Authors: Schwartz, Dagan¹; Resheff, Avram¹; Geftler, Alex¹; Weiss, Aviram²; Birenbaum, Erez³; Lavon, Ophir¹

Source: Military Medicine, Volume 174, Number 5, May 2009 , pp. 551-556(6)

Publisher: AMSUS - Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Abstract:

ABSTRACT

The second Lebanon war started as a limited operation and progressed to a large-scale campaign. Most of the fighting took place in mountainous villages and small towns inhabited with civilians. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Airborne rescue and evacuation unit is charged with air evacuation of soldiers and civilians in times of peace, limited conflict, and war. Objective: We describe this unit's activities in the second Lebanon war, analyzing injury, treatment, and evacuation characteristics Methods: Data were collected from flight medical reports, debriefings of aero-medical team members (usually immediately upon return from mission), ground units medical reports and debriefings, and hospital records. Results: 725 IDF soldiers were injured and 117 killed either in Lebanon or near the Israeli-Lebanese border during the war. A total of 338 (46%) were evacuated in 95 airlifts (averaging 4.5 evacuees per airlift) from the fighting zones or the border. Air evacuation used dedicated helicopters with advanced care capacities, and most victims were evacuated straight from the battlefield, as the fighting was ensuing. Many wounded first received advanced medical care upon the arrival of the aero-medical teams. Conclusions: In military operations within civilian populated areas with threats to ground transport, air evacuation can sometimes be the only readily available option. Providing timely ground advanced medical care proved difficult in many instances. Thus, for many, the rescue helicopter was the first point of access to such care. Aero-medical aircrafts and personnel faced threats from gunfire and missiles, causing both delays in evacuation and a high average number of evacuees per airlift. This article proposes ways of coping with situations in which similar rescue and evacuation problems are likely.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Israeli Air Force, Rescue and Aero-Medical Evacuation Unit 669. 2: Israeli Medical Corps, Trauma Branch. 3: Israeli Air Force, Medical Branch.

Publication date: 2009-05-01

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• Military Medicine is the Association's official monthly journal. The objective of the Journal is to promote awareness of Federal medicine by providing a forum for responsible discussion of common ideas and problems relevant to Federal healthcare. Its mission is: To increase healthcare education by providing scientific and other information to its readers; to facilitate communication; and to offer a prestige publication for members' writings.
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