US Air Force,
WASHINGTON: Two Air Force medical leaders told the Senate Subcommittee of Defense April 16 in Washington that the Air Force's state of medical readiness is aligned with the service's top priorities.
“Unmistakably, it is the daily delivery of health care that allows us to maintain critical skills that guarantee our readiness capability and success,” said Lt. Gen. (Dr.) James G. Roudebush, the Air Force surgeon general.
“The superior care delivered daily by Air Force medics builds the competency and currency necessary to fulfill our deployed mission,” he said.
Both General Roudebush and Maj. Gen. Melissa A. Rank, the assistant air force surgeon general for nursing services, spoke about the challenges within the medical field, such as frequent deployments and dealing with prolonged exposure to trauma and wartime tragedies, recruiting and retaining skilled medical members, and training.
General Roudebush also spoke of medical readiness regarding all Airmen in uniform, to include talk about mental and psychological health.
“The incident of post traumatic stress disorder is low in the Air Force,” he said, “diagnosed in less than 1 percent of our deployers (at six months post-deployment). For every Airman affected, we provide the most current, effective and empirically validated treatment for PTSD.”
Both leaders also spoke highly of the deployed accomplishments made by Air Force medics.
“Every member of the total nursing team has told me that their deployments, caring for America's most precious sons and daughters, has been the most professionally rewarding experience of their lives,” General Rank said. “A heightened demand has been placed upon military nursing for highly complex clinical skills and our total nursing force is meeting this challenge.”
