Air Force Reserve medical professionals make a critical difference

  • Published
  • By MSgt. Chance Babin
  • 920th Rescue Wing
PATRICK AFB, Fla. --  Within hours of an Army MH-47 special operations helicopter crashing in Afghanistan February 18, two medical professionals from the 920th ASTS, were instrumental in saving the lives of the 11 of the 14 survivors from the crash. 

Captains Karen Mackenzie, a trauma surgeon and Kevin Wilkens, a critical care nurse, both members of a critical care air transport team or CCATT, helped stabilize and maintain the condition of seven critical and four urgent patients as they made their way on an eight-hour trek from Kandahar to Ramstein Air Base, Germany on board. Once the patients arrived to Ramstein, they were bussed a short distance to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. 

"It was a pretty hectic flight," Captain Mackenzie said. "We had seven critical patients...head injuries, chest wounds, and spinal fractures." 

Due to the extent of life threatening injuries, Captains Mackenzie and Wilkens crew worked diligently throughout the flight to keep the patients stable but it was "absolutely imperative that we get these patients to a medical facility," she said. 

The Critical Care Air Transport Team's mission is to operate an intensive care unit in an aircraft cabin during flight adding critical care capability to the U.S. Air Force Aeromedical Evacuation System. CCATT patients have received initial stabilization, but are still critically ill they require evacuation from a less capable, to a more capable hospital, according to the Wilford Hall Medical Center's website. 

In the end, Captain Mackenzie said everything went well, "they weren't stable when they got on, but they are now."