SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- The Air Force is full of medical specialists who dedicate their lives to one specific aspect of care in order to ensure the well-being of service members and their families.
There is one medical career field, however, that really does it all: that of an Independent Duty Medical Technician.
“All IDMTs maintain basic training on medical group functions such as logistics, public health, bioenvironmental, laboratory, resource management, Tricare and flight medicine functions,” said Staff Sgt. Jessop Bawek, 701st Munitions Maintenance Squadron Independent Duty Medical technician. “We also function as Emergency Medical Technicians or paramedics.”
Normally these unique jack-of-all-trades positions are imbedded in units with larger medical support teams, but for Airmen assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing’s geographically separated units, an IDMT may be the only immediate medical professional servicing all the needs of hundreds of Airmen and their families.
“We basically function as a small medical group,” said Master Sgt. Nicole Palko, 702nd MUNSS IDMT. “We go through all different [Air Force specialty codes]. We do the public health inspections for the dining facility and the club; we also do the facility inspections for areas like the Fitness Center. We have our own little lab area, a pharmacy area with a stock of medications, we also do immunizations, the medical logistics part and medical admin. We also do CPR training for all the active duty members and self-aid buddy care.”
Beyond the challenges associated with being an IDMT at a remote location and running a clinic almost single-handedly, COVID-19 has added an additional layer of complication.
“I have had to deal with significant issues with mobility of patients across borders, surgery centers closing and overtaxed host nation resources,” Bawek said. “We never stopped day-to-day operations, even when most bases were shut down and teleworking. This caused issues with supply, funding, and caused us to develop our own guidance and processes separate form Spangdahlem proper.”
Despite the challenges of navigating COVID restrictions across multiple countries and maintaining a non-stop mission requirement while most people were teleworking, the IDMTs have been able to coordinate with organizations like Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and European Command to still administer the care their patients need.
“We had to have plans in place for contact tracing, quarantining, testing and supply routes before the Air Force really had a plan for us,” said Bawek. “We hand-delivered labs to Landstuhl test centers, worked with SHAPE to develop incoming quarantine recommendations that met Belgian guidelines, worked with EUCOM to report Belgian case numbers, and maintain travel across borders for our patients when things were locked down.”
According to Palko, this adaptive can-do attitude is partly what draws people to the job.
“What an IDMT does is pretty awesome,” said Palko. “We go through a very fast-paced course of learning all these different AFSCs within the med group and then get thrown to little bases overseas where you have to work with what you have. We’re very resilient, and that’s how they trained us to be.”
The 52nd FW has IDMTs assigned to all four munitions squadrons, as well as locally at Spangdahlem Air Base, and it is through their efforts that the mission has been able to continue throughout the pandemic.
“I am so proud of the work our IDMTs do,” said Lt. Col. Preston Laslie, 52nd MDG Operational Medical Readiness Squadron commander. “Through the dedicated efforts of these Airmen and the support they receive from the 52nd Medical Group, we have been able to continue our no-fail mission. Our IDMT teammates at each MUNSS run their medical aid station by themselves. We trust them completely, and with each day they earn that trust all over again.”
To date, the IDMTs at the 701st and 702nd MUNSS have been able to offer the Moderna vaccine to 100% of the active duty base population, and they have begun administering the vaccine to dependents over the age of 18 as well.