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1/16/2005 -- Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Aceh Province villagers cut off by the Dec. 26th tsunami rush towards a US Navy helicopter delivering load of rice and other humanitarian relief supplies.
12 year US Navy veteran HM1 "FMF" IDC Tim Coffey, 31, of Everett, Washington is one of two IDC (Independent duty corpsmen) on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). The IDC is the civilian equivalent between a registered nurse and a physicians assistant--and along with other members of the Abe Lincoln's medical team, corpsmen have been volunteering on the ground in the province of Aceh, Indonesia supporting December 26th tsunami victims in Operation Unified Assistance.
The IDC's role on the Lincoln is to train junior corpsmen and run the sick calls each day on ship and Coffey has night sick call duties. After flying to Banda Aceh in the morning off the Lincoln and spending from sun up to nearly sun down on the ground providing humanitarian aid and medical attention with the medical team from the Abe Lincoln, Coffey flies back to the ship along with crewmates and continues to work late into the evening with duties on board the Lincoln.
"Crazy, life of a corpsmen is sitting around waiting for people to get hurt.....", HM1 Tim Coffey.
The Abraham Lincoln left Hong Kong and headed to the waters off the hard hit island of Sumatra, Indonesia and began humanitarian mission on December 29th. The Lincoln deployed in October 2004 and the ship's tour has been extended to provide for Operation Unified Assistance.
NOTE: Tim Coffey's reachable email address aboard the USS Abe Lincoln is [email protected] and any information needed will be answered by Tim via email.
Abe Lincoln Physician Assistant LT. Mark Banks can be emailed at [email protected]
Navy Corpsman Melissa Crowe can be reached at [email protected]@cvw2.navy.mil or [email protected]
Photo by Jack Gruber, USA TODAY staff
