The White Falcon - 19.06.1965, Blaðsíða 5

Saturday, June 19, 1965
WHITE FALCON
5
New Breed Corpsman Take
Workload Off Military Doctors
The law of supply and demand is a many splintered thing.
Although used primarily in economics as a measuring stick for business and industry,
its concept and practice extend far into other areas and touch lightly into the Air Force
medical field where doctors are much in demand but the supply is limited.
With Air Force units scattered throughout the world, from the frozen northlands to
the tropical South Pacific Islands, the need for qualified physicians is readily appar-
ent, but resources are rather slim.'?
Consequently, the Air Force
must “improvise” with men from
its medical career field to fill the
slots at sites where the number
of personnel assigned does not
warrant the services of a full-
time doctor.
What-To-Do
Both the 932d and 667th Air-
craft Control and Warning units
here fall under this category, and
at each site an experienced non-
commissioned officer performs the
necessary tasks of what-to-do-’til-
the-doctor-comes.
MSgt. Laurence J. McCann, a
veteran of 19% years service, runs
the small dispensary at H-3, while
TSgt. Jimmy R. Boyd takes care
of the personnel at Rockville, home
of the 932d AC&W.
The two dispensaries are very
similar in that each has just one
bed and basic facilities to acco-
modate most emergencies. But
there is little similarity in the lo-
cations of the sites and their
proximity to major medical faci-
lities.
minor surgery such as removing
warts and other surface growths.
Experience And Study
Sergeant Boyd, who gained
much of his medical knowledge
from an Air Force school at
Gunter AFB, Ala., and the rest
through experience and outside
study, says his job at Rockville
consists mainly of conducting sick
call and providing emergency
treatment. This makes his second
tour of duty as a site medic, his
first being at N.E. Cape, Alaska,
some 500 miles from the nearest
hospital.
With slightly expanded duties
at H-3, Sergeant McCann is on
his first remote tour as the site’s
medic. He has completed 19%
years service, 13 of them in the
medical field, and is one of the
few NCO’s who had no formal
training- before taking the resi-
dent medic duties at a remote site.
After cross-training into the medi-
cal field, he relied on the Air
Force concept of on-the-job train-
ing and did a lot of side-studying
on his own.
being maintained according to
USAF health standards.
Sick call is conducted every
working day at the sites, with the
medics being on call 24 hours a
day for any emergency that
should arise.
Independent Duty
The duty of the Air Force
medic at a remote site, according
to Sergeant Boyd, is to take the
barest essentials and try to keep
the workload off the flight sur-
geon.
“We must make our own de-
cisions, which is rather difficult
when a man is on his first over-
seas tour,” he said, adding that
a call to a doctor at the hospital
here for advice is a routine thing.
Not quite so fortunate is Ser-
geant McCann, however, even
though there is a practicing Ice-
landic physician in the nearby
town of Hofn. Because of the time
it would take a qualified doctor
to arrive at the site, he must draw
his plans and make his decisions
according to past experience in
most cases.
Near And Far
Just a few miles from the
naval hospital at Keflavik Air-
port, Rockville is situated on flat,
easily accessible terrain, with full
medical facilities and personnel
only minutes away. On the other
hand, the 667thACW, located
near Hofn, Iceland, on the south-
east tip of the island, is bordered
on three sides by rough waters of
the Atlantic Ocean and on the
fourth side by rugged and steep
mountains. Only one road, a nar-
row, un-paved stretch about 13
miles long, leads into the site from
the fjord and landing strip at
Hofn, where ships and aircraft
off-load supplies.
New Breed
The kind of man it takes to run
a dispensary at a radar site like
the pair on Iceland is nearly a
new breed of medical corpsman
in the Air Force.
Rather than specializing in such
work as immunizations, partial
physical examinations, pharmacy
and the like, the sergeant chosen
to be the “town doc” to a number
of men has been trained and
equipped to diagnose certain ill-
nesses, prescribe some medicines,
administer shots, treat wounds,
take X-rays, and even perform
Additional Duties
Besides administering first aid
to the injured and prescribing
medicine for minor illness, the
two sergeants have the additional
task of being sanitation officers,
for the sites. Periodic checks are
made of the dining halls, clubs,
snack bars, barracks and other
areas to see that the facilities are
CHECKING IT CLOSELY — Al-
though Sergeant Boyd does not
usually give innoculations at Rock-
ville because of its proximity to
the Naval Hospital at the main
base, he occasionally gives a “shot”
to a man when it is not practical
for him to travel to hospital faci-
lities. (USAF Photo by A1C W.R.
Keener)
Knowledge Important
“We make it our business to
know our equipment and capa-
bilities,” he stated, ’’because it is
a smart thing to do.”
The selection of a medic to run
a remote site dispensary is a very
serious project, according to Ser-
geant McCann.
“Any seven-level sergeant is
qualified to work at a site,” he
said. “If there is no doctor within
a certain distance, a master ser-
geant (E-7) is chosen. If there is
a doctor close, the medic could
then be a staff or technical ser-
geant (E-5 or E-6).” In any case,
there is emphasis on past experi-
ence and qualifications.
Assistance Helpful
In some cases, as with H-3 and
Sergeant McCann, an assistant is
authorized to help perform func-
tions of the resident medic. At
II-3, A1C Fred Staffen, a medical
specialist by cai-eer field, arrived
there recently to help ease the
workload.
It all boils down to the adage
that the Air Force takes care of
its own, regardless of the diffi-
culties involved and the location
of the site.
A strong Air Force is a healthy
Air Force.
FOR THE RECORD—Although Sergeant Boyd is not a doctor, his
examinations and diagnoses must be maintained in medical records
for future reference. (USAF Photo by W.R. Keener)
UHIIHHH, HUH—A medic at an Air Force radar site has to know
a lot about all the vital organs of the body, and the situation often
arises that Sergeant Boyd must examine the outside of a cyst or the
inside of the ear, this time the patient being A1C Dean Briggs.
(USAF Photo by A1C W.R. Keener)
TAKING BLOOD PRESSURE—A very important check in diagnosing
an illness is the blood pressure count, taken in this case from A2C
Marcus C.J. Vanarcken. (USAF Photo by A1C W.R. Keener)