From tent to new hospital in Iraq Keesler technicians get equipment running

Published Aug. 1, 2007
By By 1st Lt. Shannon Collins
332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- As medics and volunteers carry wounded American service members and Iraqi civilians to the emergency room, doctors and nurses stand by, ready to treat them.

The tools physicians use range from oxygen and suction machines to computed tomography scanners and X-ray machines. Without these machines, the doctors and nurses would find it difficult to perform their mission. Without the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Support Squadron team, these machines wouldn't work.

Keesler sends skilled craftsmen

Senior Airmen Scott Hatch and Andrew Samland, two biomedical equipment technicians deployed from the 81st Medical Support Squadron at Keesler, are among the seven Airmen from six different Air Force bases who volunteered to deploy to Iraq solely to help the Air Force Theater Hospital move from its tent structure to a pre-engineered facility.
Completion of the move is set for Friday.

"We're excited to get to be a part of this project," said Airman Hatch. "We all want to see it turn out to be a huge success and deliver the new facility on time.

Getting it done better, faster

"Everyone on the team has really good ideas of how to accomplish certain tasks or challenges," he continued. "It's a very creative and constructive environment, and since we all want this to be a success, we are always looking at ways to get the job done better and faster."

The team is responsible for ensuring critical infrastructure is in place, including medical gases such as oxygen, suction machines, equipment placement and the testing of items such as CT scanners and oxygen generators, said Maj. Brad Weast, 332nd EMDSS transition team leader.

Major Weast deployed here January to May, but stayed to work on the project.
He said the team is coordinating needed resources, trucks, forklifts and more. Team members are working site development and placement of key functions such as fencing, t-barrier placement and a covered walkway from the intensive care unit to the contingency aeromedical staging facility for patient transport for those leaving the area of operations.

"To hire a contractor to do what we are doing would have cost the Air Force $1.8 million and more importantly, would have delayed the opening of our facility by months," said Tech. Sgt. Raymond Hillis, biomedical equipment team lead from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. "Instead, the Air Force turned to the BMET to get the job done. My team has answered the call well. Everyone knows the importance of their jobs and works tirelessly to accomplish the task."

For the team, the importance of their work is the patients and the people who take care of the wounded.

"I love what I'm doing here," Sergeant Hillis said. "Every time I pull a patient off a chopper or volunteer to assist in the operating room, I see the type of environment our miracle workers are struggling in. I get to be the guy who gives them a better environment to perform their miracles in."

"What we are doing in the new facility is setting up the medical staff assigned to Balad Air Base now and in the future with a hospital that's about as close to a stateside medical treatment facility as you could get being deployed," Airman Hatch explained. "For the patients, being in the new facility will undoubtedly be a more comfortable stay.

"Currently, the hospital provides a 98 percent survival rate for its patients," he added. "With the new facility, the hospital can continue to provide outstanding care."
When the team isn't deployed, members maintain and repair medical equipment. They handle anything from X-ray machines to thermometers.

They've met daily challenges such as border restrictions with construction equipment, material getting sent port to port, PVC pipes getting sent to the wrong location and running out of t-barriers used for defense while remaining on schedule, said Major Weast.

More than 100 volunteers from around the base have come out to help the BMET team and the other teams working on the new facility.

The reason for all the help is simple, the major said.

"I cannot think of a single structure, be it a tent or the new building, that has more meaning to so many," he pointed out. "We are in a war zone, so each of us, medical or not, can probably name at least one person who has been affected and has passed through our doors."

The new building isn't only for wounded American service members, but for the Iraqi people as well.

"The new facility is amazing," Airman Hatch said. "It's easy to forget sometimes that it's an expeditionary project. Seeing the new facility next to the current hospital is like night and day. The new facility will make a wonderful gift to the Iraqi people when our mission here is accomplished."