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Bataan Receives First Landing Craft MEDEVACs

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100127-19
Release Date: 1/27/2010 4:38:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Julio Rivera

USS BATAAN, At Sea (NNS) -- Multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) received patients medically evacuated from Haiti by air cushion landing craft (LCAC) Jan. 26.

Earlier that morning, Bataan had sent a six-person team of doctors and corpsmen, along with relief supplies, on an LCAC to the Lifeline Christian Ministries Mission Medical Clinic, in Grand Goave, Haiti, to assist Doctors Without Borders with the care of local Haitians requiring medical assistance.

"They provide good care, and the people of Haiti know that," said Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman (SW/AW) Huben Phillips, Bataan's medical department leading chief petty officer. "Since the earthquake, the amount of patients flowing in has been more than they can handle. We wanted to help with that."

Phillips and his team immediately began treating patients, and he quickly realized there were four who needed more attention than the clinic could offer.

"I knew they needed the next level of care," said Phillips. "I knew where that care was and how to get them there."

Phillips knew the quickest way for his patients to receive the necessary care wasn't waiting for a helicopter, it was loading them into the nearby LCAC and bringing them to Bataan, sailing just off the coast.

He called the LCAC crew from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4, and the team safely transported the patients to the well deck of Bataan.

"We hadn't done that before," said Phillips.
The cycle of well deck operations that begins shortly after the crew comes to life at 6:00 a.m. and lasts well into the night, has brought pallets upon pallets of relief and aid to the people of Haiti, but this is the first time the people of Haiti have been brought by LCAC directly to the aid.

"We do what we can, get rest when we can, and we work when we have to because we still have to keep the LCACs running," said Chief Operations Specialist (SW/AW) James Hay, the LCAC craftmaster who delivered the patients to Bataan. "We were ready and waiting for them."

The medical evacuation was an unprecedented team effort and a reminder of the important work Bataan has been a part of during Operation Unified Response.

"Something like this doesn't happen every day, but nothing we're doing out here is business as usual," said Capt. Sam Howard, Bataan's commanding officer."Our Sailors on the ground in Haiti saw four people in need of urgent medical care, and they brought them to our medical team the fastest way they knew how. There was no panic; there was no second guessing; they just got the job done, and they did it together."

Phillips said corpsmen and doctors aboard Bataan will continue to volunteer where they're needed.

"We're here to support. We're here to help."

Bataan is part of the Amphibious Relief Mission, along with USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) and USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), in support of Operation Unified Response in Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the island nation Jan. 12.

For more news from USS Bataan (LHD 5), visit www.navy.mil/local/lhd5/.