Ambulance Services: First response in emergency care

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cody H. Ramirez
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
The emergency medical team rushes to the ambulance after receiving a dispatch call reporting a middle-aged man having chest pains. The two medical professionals, an Independent Duty Medical Technician and an Emergency Medical Technician driver, crank-up the eight-cylinder diesel and blaze the sirens. Within the next few minutes, they will be on-scene providing the best health care possible.

A call to the 509th Medical Operations Squadron ambulance service could make the difference between life and death for a member of Team Whiteman.

The nine Airmen who make up the ambulance service team, cycle shifts of 24-hours on and 48-hours off, providing endless medical support for scheduled events such as official ceremonies and exercises to unplanned events such as in-flight emergencies and emergency calls.

According to Senior Airman Jacob Rosko, 509th Medical Operations Squadron ambulance service technician, the team receives anywhere from one to three calls on average per shift. Calls ranging from cardiac arrest to sports injuries keep the team busy throughout the day; however, before they respond to calls, the team starts the day off with a routine inspection of their equipment and ambulance, ensuring that when they receive their first call, they're equipped to handle any type of medical emergency.

Senior Airman Christopher Lopez, 509th Medical Operations Squadron ambulance service technician said EMTs typically go through three stages throughout the span of a call. Time could be the crucial difference between life and death, so the team has an under six-minute response-time goal for all calls they receive.

"The first stage, when we first receive the call, is when we anticipate what to expect when we arrive on-scene and brainstorm how to best access the situation," said Airman Lopez. "You also ask yourself; how fast can I get there? My biggest fear is not being able to find the patient."

The second phase is what takes place while the team is on-scene.

"The amount of training and preparation we do pays-off during the second phase," Airman Lopez said. "We know how to sustain, if not more, the patient until they are safely transported to an emergency room."
["Once we transport the patient,] we reflect on how well the call went," said Airman Lopez, referring to the third phase. "We see what could have done differently and how to improve our performance."

During the team's downtime, Airman Rosko said they have additional duties to accomplish and assist other 509th MDOS staff when needed.

"If the clinic is undermanned, we can assist them in a number of things like immunizations since a lot of us are trained back-up technicians," he said. "Some EMTs are also independent duty medical technicians, so they have a list of medical jobs to continue to train and certify on while maintaining the ambulance service."

Team members are also certified CPR and Self-Aid Buddy Care instructors and train firefighters on ambulance use.

"We constantly train to prepare for any situation," said Airman Rosko. "One day there could be an explosion with dozens injured, and I would be right there doing everything I could to help. Other days I could be filing papers.

"You have jobs where you go in knowing exactly what is going to happen throughout the day ... and then you have my job," he added. "What makes my job great is the fact that it's different every day."

"It's a good feeling ... knowing that we're here to care for more than 3,000 lives," said Airman Rosko.