An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

JMATT training aims high

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Nathan Allen
  • 15th Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR HICKAM, Hawaii --  Army, Navy, Air Force, civilian, and international aeromedical evacuation specialists came together for a week-long training class focusing on providing realistic hands-on training for Critical Care Air Transport teams operating in the Pacific theater.

The Joint Medical Attendant Transport Team training class began in October 2008 to train students didactically through lectures on patient care and dealing with altitude, hands-on training on using aeromedical equipment, and a C-17 training mission in which students set up a patient, monitor them, and undergo rigorous simulated scenarios while in flight. Each class instructs 20-30 students at a time.

According to Lt. Col. Maria Angles, program director for the Joint Medical Attendant Transport Team training class, the unique class was created to meet aeromedical response needs in the region.

"JMATT training was created because the Pacific theater had no teams of medical personnel that could do critical care and patient transports in the air," she said. "This program allowed us to use our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and civilian assets to safely transport critically ill or injured patients within the Pacific theater. It's truly the only training program of its kind."

According to Colonel Angles, training with total force integration, joint service, civilian, and international students side by side provides tremendous value to both the learning experience and aeromedical interoperability.

"It's a force multiplier. Currently, the Air Force only has two critical care doctors in the Pacific," she said. "This allows us to have 10 to 15 critical care positions we can use for transport. When you do joint training, you allow for better communication and true understanding of Air Force assets, Army assets, and Navy assets."

"When you have a theater with this many challenges that is separated by such significant distances, if we're all speaking the same language, it's much easier to set up a mission that can safely transport one patient no matter what type of personnel we're using," she said.

Army Sergeant Angel Rivera, a respiratory therapist and care practitioner at Tripler Army Medical Center, said that there's no reason why any barriers should exist between military branches, especially when it comes to emergency medical response.

"We are one military," he said. "With a doctor being a doctor and a nurse being a nurse, we should be able to work alongside each other and provide a high level of care no matter what branch is working with these patients."

Colonel Angles said the partnership with international aeromedical teams can be particularly valuable - especially in times of crisis.

"This is something that is high visibility for several different nations that are developing aeromedical evacuation systems," she said. "[Foreign countries who have participated in the class] are trying to increase their critical care capability. Because of this course, they've increase the same types of equipment that we use," she said. "In a large disaster humanitarian response if we work with the Indian air force they'll understand what we can bring and we'll understand what they can bring," Col. Angles said. "We'll be able to collaborate and maybe have a better overall response to any humanitarian crisis that occurs.

Indian Group Captain Rajesh Lalla, a neuro-anesthesiologist at Command Hospital Air Force in Bangalore, India, said that international teams training and operating side-by-side is a positive step toward natural interoperability and teamwork between nations.

"[JMATT training] definitely will help us to set up a similar platform," Group Captain Lalla said. "The international teams gelled very well and there was a lot of mutual collaboration and managing of patients. There's no reason when there is a mass disaster why we can't pool our resources and take aid from other nations. Working together with other nations as a team is much better than everyone trying to just do their own thing."