The TIS is an infectious disease containment unit designed to minimize risk to aircrew and medical attendants, while allowing in-flight medical care for patients afflicted by contagions like COVID-19. The TIS represents an important tool in Air Mobility Command\u2019s COVID-19 response to safely transport patients afflicted by the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, in the midst of this global pandemic, we have forces in harm\u2019s way around the world,\u201d explained Col. Leslie Wood, USAF Air Mobility Command en route care medical director. \u201cBecause of the requirements of transporting personnel with infectious disease like COVID-19, we can\u2019t use our traditional methods of transport without risking the medical crew in the back of the plane, and the rest of the crew in the front. And if we lose these crews, we lose operational capability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training medical personnel on biocontainment care is the day-to-day job of both Lt. Col. Elizabeth Schnaubelt and Tech. Sgt. Victor Kipping-Cordoba back in Nebraska.<\/p>\n
Schnaubelt, USAFSAM infectious disease physician, and Kipping-Cordoba, USAFSAM public health technician, both work at the school house\u2019s youngest Center of Sustainment of Trauma Readiness Skills location in Omaha at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Schnaubelt is the C-STARS Omaha director; Kipping-Cordoba, the non-commissioned officer in charge. USAFSAM is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and nested within the Air Force Research Laboratory\u2019s 711th Human Performance Wing.<\/p>\n
The two experts were initially called to help with this AMC mission because of their expertise with infectious diseases and public health, and their expertise with Ebola. But now, this pair has been asked to answer another national call \u2013 ensuring this necessary training on TIS to ensure patient safety and operational readiness in the fight against COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working closely with AMC on TIS training,\u201d explained Schnaubelt. \u201cIt\u2019s now being adapted for care and transport of patients with COVID-19. We\u2019re here to help make those modifications. We\u2019ve been fully integrated with Nebraska\u2019s COVID-19 response. Tech. Sgt. Kipping and I are bringing a lot of those lessons learned from the medical center, and adapting them to this mission of transporting patients with this highly infectious virus.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes the expertise at C-STARS Omaha unique to the current COVID-19 pandemic is that this team focuses on advancing the readiness skills and competency of USAF medical personnel who provide safe and effective care for patients who have contracted or may have been exposed to highly hazardous infectious diseases. USAF medical personnel are trained at C-STARS Omaha to care for patients with diseases like the Ebola virus, and now, COVID-19.<\/p>\n
The training, Kipping-Cordoba explained, is normally three days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe train on personal protective equipment donning and doffing procedures followed by waste management procedures and equipment familiarization and inventory,\u201d said Kipping-Cordoba.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the training, the infectious disease team leads the disease and infection prevention and control briefings, all PPE donning and doffing and providing infection prevention and control, clinical guidance, and risk management,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
First implemented after the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014, the TIS was engineered to ensure patients get the proper treatment in the event they become infected with any contagious disease during missions to affected areas, according to a news release from the Air Force Medical Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe initially started the TIS program thinking of Ebola\u2013and that was likely to be a 1 to 2 patient movement. Very low volume of patients,\u201d explained Wood. \u201cSo right now, we\u2019re shifting that response completely to adapt to higher volume transport and more enduring yield \u2013 so over the next several months as opposed to shorter durations.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Wood explained that there are not many trained to work with TIS, they are on their way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have crews inbound and ready to be trained up to support the additional TIS units that we are putting online as we speak\u2014all in order to stand up a larger-volume response to this pandemic,\u201d said Wood. \u201cResponding to this pandemic is a whole-of-government effort, so while we\u2019re currently planning for our military forces, we understand that we could be asked by our senior leaders to move American citizens from around the world who might be stranded due to COVID-19. I\u2019ll speak for all of us by saying\u2014we stand ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
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