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Ambulance services strive to keep you alive

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Thomas Karol
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  No matter the season, time or weather, a familiar sound can be heard from every corner of the base during an emergency – the wailing of an ambulance’s sirens en route to save a life.

“We respond everywhere on base and to a radar tower off base,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Glowth, a 28th Medical Group aerospace medical technician. “We go where we are needed, including the flight line.”

When a patient is in need of medical attention, even a small base can be treacherous to travel across for an ambulance.

“Our largest priority is our response time,” Growth said. “If we get a call, we try to be there in three minutes or less. Sometimes cars don’t move out of our way, so we have to [find a better route] and do what we need to get to the patient’s location and do our jobs.”

Before ambulance services Airmen arrive on station, they complete 98 days of rigorous training.

“We go through a long technical training course, and it can be a little stressful,” said Tech. Sgt. Ricky Dunbar, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the ambulance services flight. “We have to be ready for anything.”

Though the calls are usually routine, the flight still has to be on edge and ready for anything.

“This job is definitely exciting,” said Airman 1st Class Kayla Descamps, a 28th MDG aerospace medical technician. “We go to a call and immediately get to work. We check vitals, assess the patient and [see] what we can do for them. We deal with broken limbs and injuries more than anything else.”

Being an emergency medical technician at any northern-tier base means extreme cold can be an issue. In fact, Dunbar’s first call at Ellsworth Air Force Base was to address frostbite. He recalled the exhilaration he felt as he worked through his stress to save the patient.

Ambulance services Airmen have to gear up when responding to a call because not having the right equipment could mean the difference between a life or death scenario.

“We bring a lot of things with us when we go out,” Decamps said. “We bring a gurney to safely carry patients from the scene to the ambulance and off again. We also carry oxygen … burn kits, bandage, gauze and a lot more stuff we might need.”

If the ambulance has to go to a scene where there’s a potentially dangerous situation, medical personnel work with other organizations on base to ensure everyone’s safety.

“We rely on security forces to help us out if we need it,” Decamps said. “If there are firearms on scene, we need them to ensure the area is clear before we can come in.”

Serving in ambulatory care gives the Airmen a unique opportunity to meet and work with many individuals outside of their career field.

“My favorite part about this job is working with other organizations,” Glowth said. “We get to train with them and practice our emergency medical technician skills side by side with them, and we build camaraderie with the other people we work with.”