Although last Wednesday (1 May) was a public holiday, I had some work duties and a meeting so I thought I'd take Thursday off instead.
However, a call from our Operations Manager changed my plans with a wake up call containing two relevant words: "Medevac standby"
While on standby you prepared as much as you can to be ready as soon as to "Go call" comes. It's a strange 'place' to be; you don't have all the details, so you don't know exactly what to plan for; how many people will you need to carry? Do you remove seats for a stretcher? Where exactly will the pick up take place? Is the patient stable, mobile, conscious etc? This is added to the regular questions of weather, timing and fuel. You do this all with some sense of urgency, at least until you have more information and in the end it can all be called off...
I did not get called off and it ended up being a pretty straight forward medi-transfer flight between relatively large airports, with medical teams on both ends.
The next morning I received an early call form the office again, but this time only from the finance department asking that I do my monthly cash count. I joked that it at least does not change my day as much as a call from the Ops department can.
Only to read my mails two hours later and pick up correspondence between Operations and the doctor from remote mission hospital about a medical patient to join the return flight from the hospital after the scheduled monthly flights the following week. However, the patient's condition deteriorated as the mails came through and I was put on active standby for the second day in a row. I prepared and headed straight for the airport to prepare, reconverting my small people carrier into an ambulance once again. As I finished I received the call that the patient became completely unresponsive, he would not make it through the weekend until the scheduled clinic flight. So, off I went to collect him and take him to a hospital where he would be able to get a CT scan and possibly the head surgery he would require. The old man was in pretty bad shape as I handed him over to the hospital staff.
The next morning I hear that sad news that he passed away and the family is requesting that I return the body to their village when I go there for the clinics. I go through the following few hours sad and quite upset, especially with the previous hospital which sent him home with some aspirins for his headaches. However, as it sometimes is with bush telegraphs, news gets distorted and I receive the great news that he is still alive!
The latest news was that he was stabilized and moved to the larger Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi. It has certainly been an amazing privilege to be in a position to help this old man, please pray that he will make a full recovery...
However, a call from our Operations Manager changed my plans with a wake up call containing two relevant words: "Medevac standby"
While on standby you prepared as much as you can to be ready as soon as to "Go call" comes. It's a strange 'place' to be; you don't have all the details, so you don't know exactly what to plan for; how many people will you need to carry? Do you remove seats for a stretcher? Where exactly will the pick up take place? Is the patient stable, mobile, conscious etc? This is added to the regular questions of weather, timing and fuel. You do this all with some sense of urgency, at least until you have more information and in the end it can all be called off...
I did not get called off and it ended up being a pretty straight forward medi-transfer flight between relatively large airports, with medical teams on both ends.
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| First Medi-transfer |
The next morning I received an early call form the office again, but this time only from the finance department asking that I do my monthly cash count. I joked that it at least does not change my day as much as a call from the Ops department can.
Only to read my mails two hours later and pick up correspondence between Operations and the doctor from remote mission hospital about a medical patient to join the return flight from the hospital after the scheduled monthly flights the following week. However, the patient's condition deteriorated as the mails came through and I was put on active standby for the second day in a row. I prepared and headed straight for the airport to prepare, reconverting my small people carrier into an ambulance once again. As I finished I received the call that the patient became completely unresponsive, he would not make it through the weekend until the scheduled clinic flight. So, off I went to collect him and take him to a hospital where he would be able to get a CT scan and possibly the head surgery he would require. The old man was in pretty bad shape as I handed him over to the hospital staff.
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| Pauli Peter Medevac |
The latest news was that he was stabilized and moved to the larger Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi. It has certainly been an amazing privilege to be in a position to help this old man, please pray that he will make a full recovery...
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