Health care win-win <br> Keesler medics maintain skills, Columbus gets specialized care

Published Aug. 24, 2011
By Rick "Sonic" Johnson
14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs

COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Flight surgeons from the 81st Medical Group, among them some who have completed additional specialty training, have brought specialty care, including orthopedics and dermatology, to the base population at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.

In return, Columbus has provided a venue for Keesler flight surgeons to maintain their clinical and operational medicine currency in support of one of the busiest flight lines in the Air Force.

Col. Billye Hutchison, 14th Medical Group commander, stated, "This has been an opportunity for us to not only get robust flight medicine support, but specialty care as well. And with great support from the 14th Operations Group, we are getting our visiting physicians flying experience in our T-1, T-6, and T-38 aircraft."

This program maintains access in a high-tempo career field, and also builds deployment capacity. For example, Maj. (Dr.) Wendi Wohltmann, Keesler's dermatology chief, was an Air Force Special Operations Command flight surgeon prior to completing her dermatology residency. She'll deploy this fall to cover another Air Education and Training Command flight surgeon's office that would have otherwise been critically manned during this period.

Next week at the request of Keesler line leaders, a team of physiologists from Columbus will visit Keesler's flight surgeons. They'll identify total force opportunities to leverage a team approach to human performance using the unique capabilities that physiologists and flight surgeons can bring to support both Keesler's training and operational missions.

Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Kory Cornum, 81st MDG commander, a practicing orthopedic surgeon and flight surgeon, thanked the 14th OG and 14th MDG for their support.

"We're all in the same Air Force," Cornum said. "Everybody wins when we identify total force opportunities to leverage a team approach and support the mission by caring for patients together."

Col. (Dr.) Paul Nelson, 81st Medical Group, contributed to this report.