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Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine welcomes Canadian instructors

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • 88th Air Base Wing/Public Affairs Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  An international agreement signed last year that promotes mutual cooperation and interoperability between armed forces' aeromedical evacuation (AE) assets in the United States, Australia, Canada and Great Britain has gone into effect, resulting in some new faces at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The "Interfly" proclamation, signed May 14, 2012, by Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Charles Green, U.S. Air Force Surgeon General, and the other countries' representatives, went into effect recently, and that means aeromedical evacuation team students at USAFSAM had two Canadian instructors the week of Aug. 12.

The "Interfly" proclamation means the nations' medical teams may utilize aircraft and work alongside each other for years to come. It provides for compatible training, equipment and procedures so that AE teams from the four nations may support each other on the same aircraft where operational circumstances require this.
Maj. Roshell Dean, director of the Critical Care Air Transport Team Basic Course, said the course benefits all involved.

"If we have to take patients for each other, the equipment and the standards of care are all the same," he said. "This is a great integration of host nation coalition partners."
Dean noted a "great exchange of ideas" with the Canadian instructors.
"They're learning from us and we're learning from them," he said.

Classroom briefings were conducted by Maj. Leilani Doyle and Capt. JoAnne Schmid, both of the Canadian Army, outlining the aircraft platforms they use, challenges they face due to being a much smaller force and ways they have to be innovative to provide quality patient care.

"We're a considerably smaller military in comparison to the U.S., and we're an even smaller air evac team. Additionally, our casualty rates are decreasing since we have withdrawn from combat operations in Afghanistan," Schmid, a critical care nursing officer, told the class of 17 trainees. "That's why interoperability with you is so important because we do want to use your corporate knowledge and vast experience that all the countries have gained. Continuing this relationship is really of benefit to both the flight teams and to our patients."

The Canadian Armed Forces have relied heavily on the United States to move wounded troops from theater of operations to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where the Canadian AE team would then take over, she said.

"We greatly appreciate the tremendous support you provided," Schmid said.
As Doyle showed slides of the Canadian AE team's aircraft and equipment, she noted,
"As you can see, the equipment is exactly what you use; we've made a point of mirroring equipment, procedures and more. We're glad to work with you - it's a seamless process."

Schmid, who was a CCATT trainee at USAFSAM last year, said there are many similarities between U.S. and Canadian AE teams, but also differences that lead to learning.

"As instructors, this has been a reciprocal relationship of experience sharing. This exchange has gone really well," she said. "I find that this is making us better instructors. There is so much corporate knowledge to be gained here.

"For us it is so important because of the drawdown of our mission in Afghanistan; this is how to maintain the experience and the lessons learned and help ensure that it is best practice, quality care in the air to our patients," Schmid said.

Doyle echoed those sentiments.

"We see this as a critical opportunity because basically the U.S. Air Force is the biggest source of knowledge for how to evacuate critically ill and injured patients. Any opportunity to come here and work with the U.S. Air Force we jump upon so that we can keep up our skills," Doyle said.

The Canadian instructors have been able to show their American counterparts and trainees that the AE job can be performed with fewer personnel and sometimes under slightly less optimal circumstances.

"We can make it work. We've always had a more restrictive budget than the U.S. Armed Forces. We've always had to work with a little bit less and figure things out," Doyle said. "We appreciate the opportunity to come here. I'm here to teach, but really in the end, we're probably learning more. We also want to give a heartfelt thanks for what the U.S. military has done to help evacuate our casualties out of theater."