Jump to content

Medical evacuation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mediavc)
An AW109 helicopter evacuates a patient from the Tatra mountains in Slovakia

Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac[1] or medivac,[1] is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to patients requiring evacuation or transport using medically equipped air ambulances, helicopters and other means of emergency transport including ground ambulance and maritime transfers.[2][3]

Examples include civilian EMS vehicles, civilian aeromedical helicopter services, and military air ambulances. This term also covers the transfer of patients from the battlefield to a treatment facility or from one treatment facility to another by medical personnel, such as from a local hospital to another medical facility which has adequate medical equipment.[2]

In addition to aerial vehicles, medical evacuations can be done by land vehicles to transport and stabilize wounded personnel from conflict zones to medical facilities. Armored types are special part of medical evacuation vehicles. They have some advantages such as their armored design shields patients and medics from battlefield threats and enhances survivability through prompt medical evacuation.[4]

General Dynamics Land Systems M1133 Stryker Medical Evacuation Vehicle

Stryker M1133, Duro Medevac, BAE Systems AMPV Medevac, Iveco LMV Medevac[5], Didgori AMEV[6] and Eagle 6x6 Medevac[7] are current examples of armored medical evacuation vehicles.

In Asia, according to Aeromedical Global (M) Sdn Bhd, medical evacuations via air ambulance can be performed via a single or dual stretched setup. According to patients medical condition, Emergency Air Ambulances will be equipped with relevant equipment (ventilators, Portable O2 Concentrator etc).

History

[edit]
USAF Sikorsky R-5 Helicopter evacuates casualties during the Korean War
An aeromedical evacuation of injured patients by a C-17 from Balad, Iraq to Ramstein, Germany, in 2007

The first medical transport by air was recorded in Serbia in the autumn of 1915 during the First World War.[8] One of the ill soldiers in that first medical transport was Milan Rastislav Štefánik, a Slovak pilot-volunteer who was flown to safety by French aviator Louis Paulhan.[9]

The United States Army used this lifesaving technique in Burma toward the end of World War II with Sikorsky R-4B helicopters. The first helicopter rescue was by 2nd Lt Carter Harman, in Japanese-held Burma, who had to make several hops to get his Sikorsky YR-4B to the 1st Air Commando Group's secret airfield in enemy territory and then made four trips from there between April 25 and 26 to recover the American pilot and four injured British soldiers, one at a time.[10] The first medivac under fire happened in Manila in 1945 when five pilots evacuated 75-80 soldiers one or two at a time.[11]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Medevac". Merriam-Webster. 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  2. ^ a b GmbH, Vendana. "Blog | Air ambulance | Repatriation from abroad". www.medical-air-service.com. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  3. ^ "Emergency medical evacuations". www.uhcglobal.com. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  4. ^ "Medical Evacuation Vehicle (Medevac)". militaryvehiclesdata.com. 2024-12-02. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  5. ^ "You are being redirected..." www.idvgroup.com. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  6. ^ "STC Delta Didgori armoured medical evacuation vehicle (AMEV)". Army Technology. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  7. ^ "80 medium protected medical vehicles". www.bundeswehr.de. 2020-05-07. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  8. ^ "Veliki rat - Avijacija". rts.rs. RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of Serbia.
  9. ^ L'homme-vent, special issue of L'Ami de Pézenas, 2010
  10. ^ Fries, Patrick. When I Have Your Wounded: The Dustoff Legacy (DVD), Arrowhead Films, 2013.
  11. ^ Conner, Roger. Medevac From Luzon, Air & Space Magazine, July 2010.
[edit]