The Norwegian Armed Forces Aeromedical Evacuation Response to the 2023 Earthquake in Turkey
Åke Erling L Andresen1, Håvard Brynildsen2, Tord Loe3
1Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services, Sessvollmoen, Norway; Air Ambulance Department, Prehospital Division, Vestre Viken Hospital Trust, Drammen, Norway; Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Drammen Hospital, Drammen, Norway.
Objective:
A catastrophic earthquake struck the southeastern parts of Turkey and Syria in February 2023, causing massive destruction of infrastructure and approximately 50,000 deaths and 120,000 injuries. Regional and global medical assistance were initiated, and The Norwegian Armed Forces contributed with air medical evacuation (AE). A detachment consisting of a Hercules C-130 J airplane with personnel from the Royal Norwegian Airforce and a critical-care air transport team (CCATT) from The Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services responded. The AE setting is demanding and requires special training and preparations. We aim to describe the Norwegian AE platform and key findings regarding operational and medical aspects of the response to Turkey.
Methods:
Patient data were collected on "The NATO medical history chart" and supplemented by observations from the CCATT. We describe the Norwegian AE detachment in detail regarding personnel and equipment.
Results:
A total of 184 patients were transported on 6 flights. All missions were secondary transports. Of the patients, 45.7% presented deviant physiological parameters, with tachycardia and hypoxia as the most frequent. The dominating primary diagnosis was severe crush injuries. The patient´s age ranged from newborns to patients in their late 80s. The need for medical treatment during transport turned out to be big.
Conclusion:
The Norwegian AE system uses both military and civilian emergency medicine competence and represents a readily available contribution to disasters. Patients from earthquakes are seriously injured with a high demand for medical monitoring and treatment.
More Related Videos
06:29Real-Time Intravital Multiphoton Microscopy to Visualize Focused Ultrasound and Microbubble Treatments to Increase Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability
Published on: February 5, 2022
06:02Multi-timescale Microscopy Methods for the Characterization of Fluorescently-labeled Microbubbles for Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Release
Published on: June 12, 2021
Related Concept Videos
Acute Respiratory Failure-III
Pneumothorax-I
Pneumothorax can be even further classified as spontaneous, traumatic, and tension pneumothorax.
Pneumothorax-II
Clinical Manifestations:
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation III: AED Use
Aneurysm III: Interprofessional Care
Applications of GIS: Disaster Management and Emergency Response
