HSC-22 Conducts Late Night Medical Evacuation
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS110401-07
4/1/2011
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Phil Beaufort, Commander, Amphibious Squadron Four Public Affairs
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- Crewmen from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22 Detachment Three conducted a late-night medical evacuation of a Marine from the amphibious transport dock ship USS Ponce (LPD-15) to the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) March 25.
Doctors aboard the Ponce contacted the surgical staff aboard Kearsarge and described what appeared to be acute appendicitis. Lt. Nick Spinelli, a general surgeon with embarked Fleet Surgical Team Six (FST 6), fielded the call.
"I received the call just after midnight and I recommended that we have him flown over to us as quickly as possible," said Spinelli. "The Marine had the symptoms over 24 hours and when it comes to appendicitis, I prefer to operate early."
"Because of HSC-22's ability to respond quickly, we were able to get the patient from the Ponce to Kearsarge medical bay within an hour. That is a lot faster than you'd expect in the civilian sector."
Lt. William Husky was the ready alert copilot that evening.
"We got the call about a half past midnight, and were able to get in the air about a half hour later," said Husky. "It was a very dark night and we had high winds, but after looking at the conditions and talking to the doctor, we felt confident that we could conduct the evolution safely."
The flight crew of four had completed flight operations for the night and was in an alert status when they got the call.
"It had been a long day," said Naval Air Crewman 2nd Class Jordan Orr, crew chief for the flight. "But our maintainers had just finished working on the aircraft when we got the call, so our pre-flight went smoothly."
Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) has been on deployment for nearly seven months and this was the 11th medical evacuation HSC-22 has conducted in the U.S. 5th and 6th fleet areas of responsibility (AOR).
"We are a multi mission platform," said Husky. "We train to a variety of sea combat mission to include, search and rescue (SAR), anti-terrorism / force protection (AT/FP) helicopter visit board search and seizure (HVBSS), but medical evacuations always take priority."
HSC-22 has been on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for nearly seven months and although they are tired, morale within the detachment is still high.
"With this type of schedule our biggest concern is complacency," said Husky. "We combat that by sticking to our procedures and keeping an eye on each other. Communication is key. We let the entire flight crew know that if they see us doing something out of the ordinary, they need to speak up and let us know."
Orr felt the same way and added that teamwork is vital to safe and successful evolutions.
"There are only six Naval Air Crewmen and seven pilots, so we are a very tight unit," said Orr. "If someone is having an off day, we work together to get our heads back in the game and stay safe."
Spinelli said that thanks to HSC-22 they were able to operate on the patient before the appendix ruptured.
"Appendicitis can become life threatening, so the fact that we were able to get to the patient quickly was the difference between a routine surgical procedure and major invasive surgery," said Spinelli.
After treatment the patient was released from medical and has returned to his unit.
Commander Expeditionary Strike Group Five, Rear Adm. Peg Klein, thanked the four aviators personally and presented each with her command coin.
"This Detachment is an impressive team and their ability to respond quickly to medical emergencies provides critical capability to the Kearsarge ARG," said Klein. "They are well-trained and always ready when called."
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