U.S. Air Force Medical teams out of Lackland and Randolph are on their on their way to Chile.
In all, 84 airman flew out of Lackland Air Force base on a C-17 Globemaster to help care for people injured in the earthquake there a little over a week ago.
With them, 70 pound back packs which hold enough medical equipment to perform 10 life-saving surgeries anywhere, at anytime and under any conditions.
The medical teams did not have much notice about their humanitarian deployment. They were told Friday they were going to deploy to Chile today.
But the Expeditionary Medical Support Teams or EMEDs are ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.
"The EMEDs team can do at least 10 surgeries out of their backpacks but we're setting up a full field hospital so we'll have a much larger capability," explained Dr. Dale Ahrendtz.
The teams will be setting up portable hospitals near Concepcion where more than 400 were killed in the Feb. 27 earthquake. Most of the San Antonio based teams are with the pediatric unit.
"It's a little harder when you see children when they're hurt, but that's our job, that's what we do," said pediatrician Dr. Deena Sutter.
The medical teams may be staying for two months under what will be difficult conditions.
"I'm there to help them, so comfort's pretty much on the bottom of the list right now. I'm just happy to go help," said nurse's assistant Ydarra Fernandez.
The EMEDs teams are constantly rotating. A team returned from Haiti today and another was deploying to Afghanistan as U.S. medics help to care for people all over the world.
