JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. -- National Nurses Week honors the skilled service of men and women who devote themselves to the care of patients. It’s recognized annually from May 6 to May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday. Nightingale is regarded as a medical pioneer who drastically improved sanitary conditions of hospitals in the 1850s.
Today’s pioneering nurses continue to save lives and heal the sick and injured. However, military nurses are widely considered a unique breed due to the brutal battlefield wounds they must treat.
"It's an honor to provide care to our wounded heroes in theater," said Tech. Sgt. Rachel "Rae" Kincaid, an aeromedical evacuation technician from the 459th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Kincaid first deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Sept. 11, 2011 for four months.
"I learned and experienced so much, like working with wounded Army soldiers who would volunteer for the USO instead of laying up,” said Kincaid. “One guy had three Purple Hearts and was recovering from improvised explosive device blast injuries, yet he was there volunteering his time."
Kincaid, a nine-year Air Force veteran, is close to realizing her goal of becoming a flight nurse in the Air Force after earning her bachelor's degree in nursing in 2016. She works as a pediatric nurse in her civilian career.
Military flight nurses (military officers that have undergone specialized aircrew, survival and medical training) are an elite group who often comprise a small number within their own units of healthcare professionals. Out of over 100 service members in the 459th AES, only about 20 percent are flight nurses.
Captain Stephanie Thompson, 459th AES flight nurse, a seven-year Reservist, feels strongly about the job that she does, especially while deployed.
"All of us Reservists spend so much time training and want to put those skills into play," said Thompson. "As cliché as it sounds, we want to be a part of something greater than ourselves."
Thompson described a particularly remarkable Afghanistan deployment when she treated a young Marine who maintained a positive attitude despite multiple shrapnel wounds.
"The Marine was really lighthearted and comedic about his war wounds, but that changed," said Thompson. "When we arrived at the airfield with our patients there was a base rocket attack. All of our patients were strapped into litters and I remember looking at this young Marine who a few minutes ago was a comedian, but was now terrified and crying. I reached out and held his hand to comfort him. It's definitely a facet of nursing to comfort someone when they're in distress."
Thompson, as a civilian, is a level-two trauma center clinical nurse specialist with more than 10 years of emergency medicine experience.
Flight nurses proudly helped to achieve a 98 percent patient survivability rate during the Global War on Terrorism, the highest in U.S. history, according to figures from the Air National Guard Medical Service Corps Society.
Another 459th flight nurse, Maj. Christine Cardoza, a 13-year Air Force veteran, skillfully balances military life with her job as a part-time clinical nurse instructor as well as being a mother of two young children.
Cardoza's 4-year-old son is very proud of his mom's Air Force career and eagerly recognizes it every chance he gets. "He saw a rescue helicopter in a book and happily yelled out 'Mommy, it's you!’” said Cardoza.
While deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, Cardoza worked as a clinical nurse in the intensive care ward at Bagram Airfield. She treated a large number of injured Afghan and coalition troops.
"Bleeding patients would be brought in from the battlefield, some with partial limbs and tourniquets on," said Cardoza. “We would be huddled around the patient in our assigned spots with our specific duties. It worked very well, but we would never know what happened to the patient [after stabilization].”
One of the most haunting aspects of battlefield nursing is when medical personnel know that no matter how much they try to save a badly injured service member's life, sometimes it's not enough.
"Our goal was to save lives, but often times it was difficult, so the least we could do was ensure that they make it close enough to home in order for the family could see them [before they died], whether it be to Germany or to one our AE hubs," said Cardoza.
No matter who the patient is, where they're from, or what they look like, nurses are there to render aid to those who need it. America thanks our U.S. Air Force Reserve nurses today and every day for their difficult work, long hours and sacrifices made to save lives.