Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have adapted to and overcome an array of unanticipated situations. Medics within the Kaiserslautern Military Community in Germany have done, and continue to do, just that. On July 14, members of the Air Mobility Command arrived at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to teach local medical instructors how to respond to a number of situations that could happen with a negatively pressured conex, a device used to safely transport passengers and medical personnel in the midst of a viral outbreak.
"We have a large group of individuals coming together from the 86th Medical Group and the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron to form a COVID-19 team," Air Force Capt. JD Pilger, 86th AES interim training flight commander, said. The training equips the Europe-based trainers to implement the U.S. Air Forces in Europe for movement of patients for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, he added.
While there hasn't been a large demand for NPC teams within Europe, military medics know it's best to be prepared.
"There's not a huge demand within Eucom currently, but we're training, getting ready so if there is a demand, we're ready to go," Pilger said. "There's not going to be any delay, we'll be able to start moving patients Day One."
Building up and preparing these teams is important. COVID-19 may not be the only global pandemic they are called on to combat.
"Going forward, we can use these units for potential outbreaks like Ebola and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, which have a higher mortality rate," Pilger said. "It's important to maintain our NPC protocols for anything else in the future."
The AMC instructors ran the medics through the gamut of real-life scenarios.
"We covered around 15 different scenarios today," Pilger said. "Anywhere from a patient emergency, where they have a cardiac arrest and we're having to perform lifesaving maneuvers to bring them back, [to] a personal protective equipment breach and we have to decontaminate ourselves so we don't get infected."
Fighting COVID-19 is an all-hands-on-deck fight, and it's important for medics from different units to be able to work as a single team, Pilger noted.
"We had a great job with everyone coming together," Pilger said. "We've come together communicating and coordinating. We'll be ready to start taking live patients if the demand is there."