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Scott AFB sends C-21 aircraft, aeromedical evacuation, fire, mental health teams for Haiti relief efforts

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Amber Kelly-Herard
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  An earthquake as catastrophic as the one that took place in Haiti Jan. 12 requires much aid, and members of Team Scott are doing their part to help the people there.

This included sending C-21A aircraft and crews to U.S. Southern Command in Miami for senior leader support, a 10-member aeromedical evacuation team staged out of MacDill AFB, Fla., public affairs specialists, joining up with other fire department experts throughout the Air Force and a two-member mental health team, who are joining up with other Air Force experts as they make their way to Haiti.

The 458th Airlift Squadron, here, and the 475th AS at Andrews AFB, Md., are providing transportation for senior leaders, as well as transporting patients where possible.

The 375th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department has sent one firefighter to help assemble a 40-person fire department team from across Air Mobility Command to provide fire protection at the Port-au-Prince airport for aircraft and structures.

Team Scott has two aeromedical evacuation crews at MacDill AFB who are working with three other AE crews and three critical care teams to go back and forth to Haiti to provide medical care.

Joining up with a mental health team from the Air Force Academy and a surgical team from San Antonio are Maj. Philip Griffith and Tech. Sgt. Monica Snyder, 375th Mental Health flight provider and NCO in charge, respectively.

They are headed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but they hope to travel to as many places as they are needed where they will provide mental health services. They are also prepared to do whatever is needed for humanitarian relief as well.

Sergeant Snyder said that caring for patients who have experienced natural disasters face similar problems that patients from a deployed setting go through.

The 375th AMW Public Affairs also has a broadcaster reporting from Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., on relief efforts in Haiti.

In addition to wing assets, other Team Scott organizations are also assisting with relief efforts.

Lt. Col. Randon Draper, 18th Air Force Judge Advocate Office, is in Haiti working political and legal impediments to the relief effort.

The 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center has coordinated more than 200 arrivals into Port-au-Prince, delivering nearly 3,500 personnel and 4,600 tons of cargo for relief operations.

As of Jan. 26, Air Mobility Command has performed more than 473 sorties carrying food, water and medical supplies, which equates to 2,250 tons of cargo. AMC has also brought 2,000 passengers into Haiti and evacuated another 2,000 American citizens from Haiti.

U.S. Transportation Command, Military Sealift Command and Surface Deployment and Distribution Command has also been providing relief in several ways. U.S. TRANSCOM has contracted Crowley Maritime Corporation which is mobilizing two 400-foot-long, 100-foot-wide flat deck barges, along with two Manitowoc 230-ton crawler cranes in the United States that will be brought into Port-au-Prince to serve as a makeshift dock for future cargo operations. Crowley has also brought in 12 20-foot containers of relief supplies including water, fuel trucks, fuel, tents, tarps and cots. They are working with USAID to bring in five million MREs.