European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday March 20, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 is photo by Dave Didio a victim of the 1984 . Embassy bombing in Beirut Lebanon is loaded into a helicopter at Ramstein a Germany for airlifting to the army Hospital in  is vital link in patient care by Judy Sarasohn medical writer f . Air Force doctors at Torrejon a Spain suspect a woman is going to deliver a High risk baby they Send her to the army Hospital at Frankfurt where there is a neonatal unit. When four . Navy Petty officers and a lieu tenant were Hurt in last year s bar bombing in Greece they were flown to the army Hospital at Lan Stuhl Ger Many where there Are Burn specialists. The wife of a senior air Force no suffered a stroke at in Ciurlik a Turkey and was flown to the air Force hos Pital at Wiesbaden for treatment. The link Between . Military communities and Remote units scattered throughout Europe and the hospitals with specialized medical care is the military Airlift come s medical evacuation system. It is very important. What s not available Here is in the army and air Force hospitals in  said Navy or. Capt Lawrence e. Nelson commander of the naval Hospital at Rota Spain. I have none of the medical super  air Force col. Jerry l. Kaffka commander of the 7241st air base group said he s impressed with the medi Cal evacuation system s ability to respond to the needs of his Community in Izmir Turkey. The Community has Only an air Force clinic general surgery and specialized treat ment must be done elsewhere. The clinic Over there is a clinic Kaffka said. It does what a clinic does and the medevac does the  the medical evacuation system is essential to the Way the military works officials said. If i did t have that air evac system As backup we d have to put Only military personnel at bases said or. Brig. Gen Robert Buethe jr., director of medical plans and resources in the air Force surgeon general s office. Medical evacuation is an unwieldy system but How Many a scans can you buy said or. Cmdr Robert Ghiselli an internist in private practice for 17 years and now at the Navy Hospital in Naples. The medevac system works but it takes a Little More  Nelson said his Navy medical personnel evacuate patients Early to prevent placing the patients in  also for safety pregnant women in Remote areas often Are moved to one of the bigger hospitals Stork nests one to two weeks before their due dates. The major focus of the medical evacuation system with in Europe Are the three major medical centers in Ger Many the hospitals in Wiesbaden Lan Stuhl and Frank Furt. But patients May be sent to other military hospitals depending on their needs and the availability of care at those facilities. For example the pregnant wife of an Izmir airman might be flown to the air Force Hospital at in Ciurlik if the delivery is expected to be routine. Navy doctors at Simonella Sicily Send pregnant women to the Navy Hospi Medicine Tal in Naples Italy. The mainstay of the medical evacuation system in Europe is the c-9 Nightingale. Although the air Force has four c-9s in Europe Only three Are dedicated to medical evacuation. The three Are based at Rhein main a Ger Many. Known As retails for the red Cross on the planes tails the c-9s Are specially equipped to handle patients and can accommodate up to 40 litters or a combination of litters and ambulatory patients. The c-14 in Star lifter is used to Fly patients to military hospitals in the United states for More specialized medical treatment. In Ciurlik a has a c-130 and flight qualified medical personnel that can be used when it would take too Long for a c-9 to Fly in from Rhein main. A round trip flight to in Ciurlik including turnaround time on the ground takes about 10 hours. Medical evacuation in Europe also depends on the army s 421st medical co air ambulance helicopters for Short but urgent hops. The 4th platoon flew a victim of the August car bomb explosion at Rhein main to lands Tull which has neurosurgical specialists. The 55th aeromedical Airlift so at Rhein main flies the c-9s. The medical Crews which come from the base s 2nd aeromedical evacuation so usually consist of two nurses and three medical technicians All specially trained for flight Medicine. A doctor is sent along under certain circumstances. A cardiologist for example flies if to hts plane is picking up a heart patient. The medical evacuation system flies about 2,115 patients a month within Europe and about 460 patients be tween Europe and the United states. Patient transfers have increased More than 40 percent since 1981, said or. Brig. Gen Vernon Chong Mac surgeon. He expects smaller but regular increases. We re at the saturation Point in the aircraft we can use Chong said. The missions we Fly Are pretty  flights occur daily within Europe and twice a week Between Europe and the United states. The medical evacuation system is responsible for Europe Africa and the Middle East. But flight routes Are subject to Radical change if an emergency occurs and a plane must be diverted to pick up a patient. Col. Anthony Trezza commander of the 2nd aeromedical evacuation so said 75 percent of All urgent and priority patients Are picked up by diverted flights. An urgent patient must be moved immediately while a priority patient must be moved within 24 hours. The system averages 26 urgent and priority cases a month. One of the 2nd aeromedical evacuation so s special flights last october was to Moscow its first emergency flight to the soviet Union to pick up a seriously ill . Government employee. Last month the Squadron picked up a family member of an employee in the . Embassy in Johannesburg South Africa. She was too ill for a commercial airline Trezza said. Despite Crew efforts flights Are not always comfortable continued on Page 9