McChord Reservists treat Hurricane Katrina victims Published Dec. 5, 2005 By Senior Airman Nick Przybyciel 446th Airlift Wing Lackland Air Force Base, Texas -- As aeromedical evacuation operations gear down here, two Reservists from McChord Air Force Base, Wash., are heading home today after providing relief for Hurricane Katrina victims. Tech. Sgt. Shawnette Reach, and Tech Sgt. Leah Crawford, both medical technicians with the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, arrived here Sept. 2 in order to fly victims injured by the hurricane to safety. They are part of a four-person aeromedical evacuation team, whose job it is to stabilize patients while in flight. Reach, a resident of Roy, Wash., and Crawford, from Lynwood, Wash., were asked to fill in for a team from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., which was short two medical technicians. On a mission that originated here Sept. 4, they brought 38 patients from Louis Armstrong International Airport, New Orleans, to safety in Monroe, La. They were part of a joint-force effort that managed to clear the New Orleans airport -- the main staging facility for hurricane victims -- of evacuees and patients in only three days. Both of the Airmen have trained extensively for mass-casualty scenarios, most recently in an exercise held in March that tested the coordination in Washington between the Federal Emergency Response Agency and the military. While the exercise’s scenario mirrored the devastation that occurred in New Orleans and Mississippi, reality proved to be much different than training for the medical technicians. “We really didn’t have medical histories of any of the patients,” said Crawford, a student at North Seattle Community College when not on Reserve duty. “There were a lot of John Does. It’s hard, because where do you start?” After loading a patient onto the C-130 Hercules that was used for the mission, the AE crew would check their vital signs – which was often the only way to assess the victim’s condition. There were no medical records or histories provided to the medical technicians, making patient assessment guess work. “Most of the people were severely dehydrated and lethargic, so they couldn’t tell us what was wrong,” said Reach, who in her civilian occupation is a math teacher in the Bethel School District. The types of injuries were much different than what AE crews typically experience. They are normally accustomed to treating trauma patients who are injured while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The mission they flew to New Orleans consisted mostly of elderly patients who were suffering from being without medication for a prolonged period of time. One of their patients was a diabetic who was forced to self-administer his insulin shots until it went bad from lack of refrigeration. Despite the set-backs, the crew delivered all of their patients to Louisiana stabilized, where they were immediately taken to a local hospital. Although both Reach and Crawford would like to remain in the region to provide support to Hurricane Katrina victims, Reach expressed relief with the news they would be heading home. “My seven-year-old daughter called me crying today. ‘Mom, when are you coming home?’ she asked. I told her soon, because things are changing so often down here, and I didn’t want her to get excited if the plans change,” Reach said. Serving as the hub of aeromedical operations for Joint Task Force Katrina, the Kelly annex of Lackland Air Force Base has processed approximately 2,000 injured patients since the start of operations Sept. 1.