Event highlights legacy of Army Medevacs, university’s 5-year contract to train all Army Flight Medics
To celebrate the UT Health Science Center San Antonio’s longstanding relationship with the U.S. Army, the Department of Emergency Health Sciences in the School of Health Professions is hosting a special presentation of the documentary “When I Have Your Wounded: The DUSTOFF Legacy” from 1:45 to 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5.
The special showing of this documentary is an early commemoration of Veterans Day on Nov. 11. After the documentary is shown, a panel discussion with current and retired military personnel will allow them to share their experiences on the frontline and to answer questions.
The documentary, which was created by Austin-based Arrowhead Films, is a one-hour feature film that tells the story of the Army helicopter medical evacuation for the U.S. Army Medical Department. The film shows the legendary pioneers of Army Medevacs in Korea and Vietnam to the frontline Dustoff missions in the deserts of the Middle East. Dustoff was the radio call sign given to the first helicopter evacuation unit in Vietnam in 1962. The term Dustoff has become synonymous with life-saving aeromedical evacuation.
Earlier this year – after a yearlong pilot project – the Department of Emergency Health Sciences at the UT Health Science Center was selected by the U.S. Army to train all U.S. Army Flight Medics. The Health Science Center was honored to be selected as the sole educational provider to meet this critical need. The five-year, $8.4 million contract requires the university to provide four Paramedic Certification courses and four Critical Care Transport Courses per year for U.S. Army Flight Medics.
Military personnel who are currently in the nine-month flight paramedic course will be in attendance.
Agenda for the special event located in the Pestana Lecture Hall on campus:
1:45 p.m. Welcome by William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the UT Health Science Center. Overview of the partnership program by Lance Villers, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Health Sciences. Introduction of the film by retired Col. Dan Gower, Ph.D., who served as a Dustoff aviator for 18 years and is executive director of the Dustoff Association, a veterans’ organization of former and current Dustoff crew members.
2-3:15 p.m. Documentary shown.
3:15-3:45 p.m. Panel discussion with retired Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, Medal of Honor recipient and a Medevac pilot during the Vietnam Era; Maj. Patrick Zenk, whose late father was a pioneer of the Army Medevac in Vietnam and is now a Medevac who served in Afghanistan; and Sgt. Billy Raines, who currently serves as an Army Medevac. Both Brady and Zenk are featured in the documentary.
NOTE: The panel participants will be available to the media afterward.
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