US Air Force,
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq: Airmen of the 332nd Medical Support Squadron Biomedical Maintenance Flight here help save lives by ensuring proper preparation of patients prior to air evacuation from the theater of operations every day.
The Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad Air Base is the hub for en-route patient care, and the biomedical maintenance flight medics work behind the scenes to keep the facility's equipment up and running.
“In a nutshell, we maintain all medical equipment and facilities, said Staff Sgt. Brian Cummings, a 332nd MDSS biomedical equipment technician deployed from Langley Air Force Base, Va.
When equipment is brought in for maintenance, it's prioritized according to mission impact.
“If a defibrillator is broken, we've got to get that working right away,” Sergeant Cummings said. “If someone was to have a heart attack, they'd have to go get a defibrillator from another area, and that's precious time that could cost someone's life.”
The evolution of technology in contemporary medicine has increased the need for biomedical maintenance flight technicians, Sergeant Cummings said.
“Modern patient care revolves around not just the skill of the doctor, but technology as well,” he said. “When the equipment is running correctly, it allows the docs to do their job to the best of their ability. With the most accurate diagnostic equipment at the docs' disposal, the patients have a better chance at survival and recovery.”
When things are running smoothly around the facility and nothing is broken, the biomedical maintenance flight technicians use the time to perform routine preventative maintenance on all the equipment.
“When we do our routine maintenance, we look for things that will help prolong the life of the equipment and keep it running as well as possible,” Sergeant Cummings said.
They also provide the medics with training on how to properly use new equipment to prevent user error.
“It's really nice when you see the equipment you work on (is) used to save a patient's life,” said Staff Sgt. Mathew Kurian, a biomedical maintenance flight technician deployed from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
As with any mission operating in a remote location, luxuries afforded biomedical maintenance flight technicians at home station aren't always available in Iraq, forcing the technicians to become more resourceful and diverse in skill knowledge, said Staff Sgt. Orlando Ortega, a biomedical maintenance flight craftsman deployed from Barksdale AFB, La.
“Stateside, we don't handle the facility work orders, such as plumbing and electrical issues,” the sergeant said. “Also, stateside, manufactures can come in and do the work on their broken equipment. Here, everyone depends on us. If we can't fix it, it has to be sent to the company, which completely takes the unit out of service for several weeks.”
Although the facility has replacements for most items, there are some that if they had to be pulled, would directly impact patient care.
“Equipment changes almost every day,” Sergeant Ortega said. “It's not realistic to think you can learn everything about every piece of equipment. Our technical school helps prepare us by giving us the foundation and framework — the basics. We fill in the gaps as we go and sort of teach ourselves by using the literature and skills picked up along the way from co-workers.”
“Plumbers work on pipes, carpenters work with wood, but we can work on everything in the hospital. We're not limited to one field,” Sergeant Cummings said. “When you work on medical equipment, you have to know how to fix everything, and we do because there's no telling what you're going to see.”
