Team Mildenhall flight medicine clinic: Keeping aircrew fit to fly

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  While aircrew are what many people might think of as "the face" of Team Mildenhall's mission, it's the many people working behind the scenes who help keep them in the limelight.

One of those units is the 48th Aerospace Medicine Squadron Flight Medicine Clinic, whose medics are responsible for helping keep those aircrew healthy and fit to fly. Additionally, they also see of those on flying status, and a recent addition to their patient list is U.S. Air Force firefighters.

The medical technicians here are actually assigned to RAF Lakenheath, and doctors are attached to all of the flying squadrons, and work in conjunction with independent duty medical technicians, providing medical support to flying personnel.

"Those squadrons take turns rotating in and out during the week to support the manning for the physicians' schedule, and they supplement our technicians' schedule when needed," explained Senior Airman Elizabeth Goebel, 48th AMDS Flight Medicine Clinic flight and operational medical technician.

"We support the doctors with their patient care; basically, anything that has to do with their appointment schedules, (preventative health assessments), occupational health examinations, any kind of acute appointments needed, and flying statuses," she said. "I also maintain our own currencies with ambulances and flightline driving licenses for both bases."

The medical technicians' role is driven by the schedule, and the majority of what they deal with is specific to flyers, Goebel explained.

"At the last minute, someone might need to get off flying status because they're not feeling well, or they need to come back onto flying status because the mission popped up; it's a good mix of both," she said.

Team Mildenhall is host to several flying squadrons and different types of aircraft, so it's essential that flight medicine Airmen know how to support those flyers.

"We have just as many flyers, if not more, than at Lakenheath, so it's more beneficial to have a clinic here for access to care for them," she added.

The NCO in charge and officer in charge of both RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath flight medicine clinics attend regular meetings here, with the rest of the Mildenhall clinic staff in attendance, to ensure everyone knows what's going on and all lines of communication are open.

"It's a joint effort between the folks here and at Lakenheath to man this clinic," Goebel said.

Flight surgeons within the flight medicine clinic are from each of the flying squadrons, and their work is very diverse as they see patients from all of them. When not at the clinic, they work either at the squadron, or fly. Part of the doctors' role involves flying with the aircrew to experience their environment.

"It means we not only get to interact with them, but we get to know them a lot better than we would, say, as patients that just come to visit in the clinic, to understand the stresses of flight," explained Lt. Col. Robert Baltzer, 488th IS squadron medical element flight surgeon. "So if they're complaining of, say, neck or back problems because there's something wrong with the chair, then we're up there and we know, and that's important - it promotes the doctor-patient relationship, but it also makes the bond a little bit stronger.

"I think that's one of the biggest differences between my time being an internal medicine doctor and being a flight surgeon - there's a much stronger sense of community with the people that you're working with directly, and the people coming through the door are not strangers," he said.

Baltzer described how he feels the best part of his job is taking care of the aircrew he works with.

"It's a smaller clinic and doesn't have the same facilities as Lakenheath, but I think we provide a really excellent service here, and we give the people on base the ability to be seen quickly and in a really personable manner; it's not anonymous - we know everyone that comes through the door," he said. "I think the biggest thing we provide is the ability to get RAF Mildenhall's flyers and firefighters a way to get occupational health exams done here, rather than go somewhere else. I have a lot of pride in what we do here."

The flight surgeon praised his team of medics as he described how they do everything they can to ensure people's medical needs are met on base.

"It's kind of a weird job - you do a lot of things that aren't necessarily medical, so it's not just dispensing medication or making a diagnosis; we get involved with visiting workplaces, solve strange medical problems that come up, answer questions and provide information on travel or site survey visits to different TDY locations. It's definitely unique," he remarked.

"I enjoy every day I come to work and honestly, it's because of the people I work with. It can get busy sometimes, but we've got a really good group of people," Baltzer said.