AT least 34 personnel from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) underwent training by members of the US Pacific Air Force on aero medical emergency evacuation yesterday.
“If there are disasters, when they invite us to join them in their mission, we already know what we are doing,” said Maj. Chonna Herrera, overall clinical supervisor of the Air Force General Hospital in Villamor Air Base.
She said the training enhances “the inter-operability” of flight nurses and the aero evacuation team assigned at the Asia Pacific.
Maj. Vanessa Lynn Moses, director of the flight nurse course of the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, said the training is part of their mission to help the country develop its capability in evacuating victims.
“I know that in the future, it would be beneficial to have those individuals who are brand new to the air medical evacuation arena because they will benefit a little more,” she said.
Moses said the capability of Filipino medical military personnel is ‘equivalent’ to theirs.
“What if your machinery broke down? You still have to rely on your clinical skills and have that confidence in yourself to take care of that patient,” she told Cebu Daily News.
The training was part of the week-long Pacific Angel 13-1 training of the US Pacific Air Force in the country.
The US team will conclude their humanitarian mission in Negros Oriental province sometime today. Pacific Angel 13-1 is a joint and combined AFP-US Humanitarian Civic Action program aimed at enhancing the response capability of the military and stakeholders during disasters and calamities. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza