Small hospital support of unscheduled overnight air evacuation

On January 13, 1982, the entire east coast of the United States experienced a severe snowstorm. Blizzard conditions caused closure of civilian airports and Air Force runways. In the midst of the storm, an MAC C-141 aircraft with 48 people on board was inbound from Germany. Diminishing fuel and crew rest requirements made the situation urgent. Loring AFB, ME, had an open runway; and a small 20-bed hospital which accepted the challenge of providing remain-overnight (RON) facilities for the 34 patients and 7 nonmedical attendants from the flight. Within 2 h of arrival, the people from the flight had been fed, were settling for the night, had their records reviewed, were visited by medical staff, and had trebled the inpatient population of the hospital.