Course turns nurses into aircrew members

By Nathan Pfau, Army Flier Staff WriterJuly 6, 2015

Course turns nurses into aircrew members
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Capt. Lani Pineda, USASAM Joint Enroute Care Course director, shows Command Sgt. Maj. William D. Lohmeyer, Fort Rucker garrison command sergeant major, the different equipment flight medic students use to train during a walkthrough of the Flight Medi... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Course turns nurses into aircrew members
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT RUCKER, Ala. (July 6, 2015) -- When thinking of Fort Rucker, most people think about helicopters flying high above the Wiregrass, but not many know that there is a whole host of training that goes on a little more behind the scenes across the installation.

One particular aspect of that training is the U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine Flight Medic Course, which hosted a walkthrough for Command Sgt. Maj. William D. Lohmeyer, Fort Rucker garrison command sergeant major, to highlight the training and show its importance to not only Fort Rucker, but the Flight Medic School as a whole, said Capt. Lani Pineda, USASAM Joint Enroute Care Course director.

"During our Flight Medic School courses, we teach the students what is needed when they apply their training when it comes to anywhere from the Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support to their basic certifications and what is needed when you're down range," said the course director. "The course teaches the students how to be a crew member on an aircraft and how to apply what they've learned as paramedics into the operational world when they deploy."

Students come to Fort Rucker for the course, which currently runs over five weeks but will soon be cut to four weeks, from the training at the U.S. Army Medical Department Center in San Antonio, Texas, where they receive the bulk of their training. Pineda said the training received on Fort Rucker is invaluable, in that it gives the Soldiers a real-world type environment to learn.

The USASAM Flight Medic Course features a lecture hall, hoist training facility -- the only hoist tower in the Army, according to Pineda --as well as simulators that simulate being in a helicopter while treating a patient, complete with equipment and sounds.

Each course trains between 20-25 students, and Soldiers come from all branches, including the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Reserve and National Guard, and multiple countries from Norway to Germany to Australia.

The training is meant to give Soldiers an immersive experience and challenge them with situations they wouldn't normally encounter as a nurse, paramedic or even doctor, said the course director.

"I feel that it's really important for the school to be here just to showcase that although you can be a great practitioner anywhere, being a practitioner in the back of the aircraft is a different beast of its own," she said. "If we can blend the two things, then this is the place to do it."

Before attending the course herself, Pineda said the experience of going through the program was and eye opener, despite her having full confidence in her abilities as a nurse.

"For me, as a nurse working in a hospital, I felt very confident in my craft," she said. "When I got put into the back of an aircraft, I felt like I was a baby nurse all over again -- it's the same with these flight medics.

"A lot of them are ground medics or paramedics and they know the basics of how to do the medicine, but there is a whole Aviation and combat side that we're not taught. In order to be able to be a great flight medic or flight nurse or flight doctor, you've got to be flying, and you can only get that here at Fort Rucker -- the home of Army Aviation," she said. "We really want to close the gap, and make people aware that we're here and tie the together where medical care and Aviation blend."

It's that blending of training that makes Fort Rucker great, said Lohmeyer, adding the fact that it's mostly done unnoticed by the general population is amazing.

"I think it just goes to show everything that goes on Fort Rucker on a daily basis and how people are constantly out there doing their mission," he said. "For the size post that we are, the amount of training that goes on here -- pilot training, flight-medic training, theater-operations training -- it's amazing how it all comes together, most of which goes unseen. It's amazing the quality of training and the realism of the training that the students are receiving here."

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Fort Rucker, Ala.

U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence