|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Rocket Doc's Journey from Birmingham to Iraqby Lori Baker
Closely watching the mission was Lieutenant General George Taylor, Jr., M.D., a 1978 Baylor College of Medicine alumnus who has served as the Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force since December 2002. The famous aeromedical evacuation fell into Taylor's extensive job description, which includes guiding all medical operations and personnel for the U.S. Air Force - no small task when you consider that the Air Force has as many medical officers as it has pilots. From flying...to physics...to medicine
"It's a pretty seductive thing to be flying," said Taylor. "If I had not been overseas with my family during high school, I probably would have applied to be a pilot with the Air Force Academy." Freetown, Sierra Leone, was a far cry from Birmingham, Alabama, where Taylor spent his childhood. Taylor's family moved to the Western African town after his parents joined the Peace Corps when Taylor was in the seventh grade. Taylor's father - and name sake - was an up and coming attorney involved in civil rights work prior to becoming Director of 250 Peace Corp volunteers in Freetown. There, Taylor and his three younger siblings found adventure (they once discovered a five-foot cobra under the living room sofa) and learned important lessons about representing and serving your country. "The Peace Corps experience made me think very hard about being an American overseas and about America's role in the world," said Taylor, whose family also served in Guyana. "I was interacting with people from different cultures, and it made a big difference in what I said and how I behaved." Although Taylor's plans for flying professionally were grounded, another love - swimming - started him down a new path. After the Peace Corps, the family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, and then to Tuscaloosa, where he worked as a lifeguard at the North River Yacht Club. He attracted attention in those days by displaying a skill not common among young men - knitting. Taught by his mother, he often knitted on the guard stand to pass the time. When it came time to choose a college, Taylor wanted a school where he could swim competitively, as well as one with a strong technical side since he wanted to study math. Rice University in Houston fit the bill. As undergraduates often do, he changed majors when he decided that physics better fit his interests. While he was at it, he also majored in Russian Language. The shift to medicine happened the summer between Taylor's junior and senior years. "My two brothers and my sister followed in my father's footsteps and became lawyers, but I was drawn to practicing medicine," said Taylor. "I applied to several medical schools, but Baylor College of Medicine had a great reputation, it was right down the street, and I had friends from Rice who were already there, so my choice was fairly easy." The allure of aerospace medicineTaylor had no idea that his decision to join the Air Force's Health Professions Scholarship Program at BCM would set the course for his career. "My parents had already paid for my undergraduate education, and still had three kids to put through college, so I didn't want to burden them with my medical school expenses," said Taylor. For every year of medical school covered by the Scholarship program, the recipient serves an equal amount of time in the Air Force. At the time, BCM could train medical students in three years instead of four. Taylor was glad to be one of the "rocket docs," as they were called, because it meant his military commitment would only be for three years instead of four. "I planned to serve my three years in the Air Force and then return to BCM for a residency in orthopedic surgery, but instead I got hooked by the excitement of the Air Force and aerospace medicine and decided to continue serving," said Taylor of his decision that has led to a distinguished career spanning more than a quarter century. After completing a residency in aerospace medicine, Taylor earned his Master's in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1984. He began his career in the Air Force as a flight surgeon, a role that carries a wide range of responsibilities, including general practitioner, health advisor and educator, occupational health expert, EMT, and forensic scientist and accident investigator. "As a flight surgeon, your job is to keep that squadron healthy so they can accomplish the mission," said Taylor. Of his many assignments through the years, Taylor cites his first post as one of his most memorable. "Your first assignment is always the best because you learn so much. I was part of the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron stationed at the Kadena Air Force Base in Japan, where I got to fly in the planes and take care of the pilots and their families." Today, his job as Air Force Surgeon General is still to look after pilots and their families, just on a much larger scale. Innovations in military medicineThe Air Force employs close to 40,000 medical personnel, who are assigned to 78 worldwide medical facilities and numerous remote outposts in deployed areas. It's Taylor's job to guide, direct, and manage the complex system. In recent years, that has meant going to Iraq for a large number of Air Force medics. Although they were prepared to move as many as 300 wounded troops a day, the numbers have been dramatically less - between 10 to 20 a day in recent months. While caring for those hurt in combat is of critical importance, many more troops are removed from battle because of accidents or illnesses than from enemy fire. Of 29,000 patient transports last year, only 4,500 involved battle casualties. "We provide care for the entire spectrum of conditions - battle wounds, as well as the flu, dental problems, sprained ankles, high blood pressure, and post-traumatic stress syndrome…just to name a few," said Taylor. "We are experiencing unparalleled success in preventing illness and injury during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The disease non-battle injury rate across the Defense Department is 4 percent. That's the lowest in history." Although fewer in number, battle injury evacuations require a much more sophisticated response. Of those patients who are evacuated by air and treated by critical care air transport teams, four of five need complicated care, such as cardiac monitors and mechanical ventilation. Even simple procedures, such as administering intravenous fluid, is tricky at 30,000 feet, where medics have to adapt for things such as changes in altitude, barometric pressure, and cabin temperatures. A significant advance in recent years is the ability to quickly transform cargo planes into flying intensive care units. "This has eliminated the need for patients to wait days for transport," said Taylor. In recent testimony to members of the House Armed Services Committee's total force subcommittee, Taylor described the advantages of this new capability in very human terms: "...in Baghdad, a five-year-old, deathly ill Iraqi girl was brought to one of our allied locations. She was scheduled to fly to Greece for medical treatment. Her condition was so poor that upon arrival at the clinic she was placed on a ventilator. Doctors determined she was too ill to survive and she was removed from the flight. One of our nearby medics heard of the situation. He determined that leaving that little girl behind to die was simply not an option. He, and other members of his Aeromedical Evacuation team, grabbed one of our Patient Support Pallets - we have 41 of them strategically placed around the globe - and within an hour had converted a section of the Greek aircraft into a small critical care bay. Their precious cargo was loaded - with her ventilator - and she was flown to Greece to receive care. We are the only country in the world that can do this on a regular and sustained basis for our military personnel. One medic describes it this way: 'if it flies, and we have elbowroom, we can do our thing. Our thing is saving lives.' Balancing actFinding the right balance is a key theme for Taylor in his current role. Many parties have a keen interest in the decisions Taylor makes in regards to the Air Force Medical Service: the Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, members of Congress, and, of course, the airmen and women - both past and present - and their families. "As Surgeon General, I receive a lot of input from many sources. One of the most challenging aspects of the job is to evaluate all the competing priorities and strike the right balance in allocating resources," said Taylor. "It's also very rewarding to figure out how to correctly mix the profession of arms and the profession of the healing arts." When asked to reflect on his career, Taylor doesn't have any regrets, except perhaps giving up the childhood dream of flying. "I love what I do," concluded Taylor, "but being a pilot is still my dream job." |
Patient CareWhen Executives Become 'Ill-Suited' ResearchEducationThe Responsibilities of Residents Coat Pockets Full of Knowledge Community ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentCollege News
|
||
Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 2005 |
|||
 |
|
BCM Home | BCM Intranet | Privacy Notices | Contact BCM | BCM Site Map © 2005-9 Baylor College of Medicine® |
|
| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
Remember Jessica Lynch? Most Americans heard repeated accounts of the daring nighttime rescue of the young private from an Iraqi hospital. But equally important aspects of her rescue were not reported by the media - details such as providing care at 30,000 feet while she was transported thousands of miles on three different aircrafts to get her to a joint Army-Air Force hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. 
Ironically, Taylor envisioned himself as one of the pilots, not a medical officer, when he was growing up. The popularity of the space program in the 1960s gave him a passion for flying that literally took flight when, for his sixteenth birthday, his parents gave him a pilot's log and flying lessons.