Medical Officer Joins Eagle Crew for Third Summer
From USGC Eagle Public Affairs  


May 4, 2009

ABOARD USCG EAGLE (WIX 327), North Atlantic Ocean – Every time America’s Tall Ship gets underway, the medical department’s permanently assigned independent duty corpsman is augmented with a medical officer, to tend to the needs of the crew of 55, in addition to as many as 150 cadets and numerous guests aboard.

Since 2007, Lt. Charlene Criss, a medical officer assigned to the Coast Guard Academy Clinic in New London, Connecticut, has spent a couple of months each summer aboard Eagle to oversee the medical department as the ship sails to points far from home.

“Lt. Criss brings a tremendous amount of experience as a physician’s assistant,” said Capt. Chris Sinnett, Eagle’s commanding officer. “When we are at sea and thousands of miles and many days away from the nearest shore site and we do not have medevac capability we need somebody onboard to help us for situations that are above corpsman level to keep injured and sick people stable until we can get to medevac range. Medical officers bring that capability to us and allow us to manage an element of risk that we get offshore and into the Atlantic.”

Criss, who was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Virginia, began her Coast Guard career in 1991, when she attended boot camp in Cape May, N.J. Two years later she attended Health Services Technician “A” School, and picked up E-6 before being selected for commissioning in the Coast Guard’s physician assistant’s program. Today she holds a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska, and a second master’s degree in science in Advanced Physician Assistant Studies from AT Still University.

While the three-masted, square-rigged cutter sailed 3,149 miles along the 35th parallel north on an 18-day cruise that began April 20 in New London bound for Rota, Spain, Criss discussed the most common ailments she treated on the ship, as well as preventive measures sailors could take to keep themselves healthy.

“The most common problem we see at first is seasickness, which usually disappears after the first few days at sea,” she said. “Following that, there are minor wounds, minor sprains and strains. Occasionally we have a head injury, but usually they are mild. About two weeks into the trip we tend to see a lot of upper respiratory infections, and after a port call we’ll get a run of gastroenteritis. Rarely, we’ll have something more serious, like a broken bone or somebody who needs to be medevac’ed off the ship.

“By and large, the crew only has minor injuries and illnesses.”

Eagle’s medical department can treat all of the illnesses and injuries above, but lack of more specialized equipment prevents the treatment of more serious problems.

“We can treat many illnesses with antibiotics, and we can stabilize most injuries until we can get the patient to a higher level of medical care, but there is absolutely a limit as to how much we can do aboard Eagle,” she explained. “We always hope those extreme cases don’t occur when we are this far out to sea.

“The things we really can’t take care of are surgical emergencies, such as appendicitis, head injuries that result in bleeding between the brain and the skull, and heart attacks. Broken bones, major eye injuries and severe infections that keep spreading into the bloodstream – those are things we would not be able to manage.”

These problems can only be handled by medevac, a challenging proposition considering Eagle’s masts prevent landing a helicopter on the cutter’s deck. In that case, injured personnel would have to be put out to sea in a small boat for pickup, and only if the seas are fairly calm.

Sailors can take simple preventive measures while aboard Eagle to stay healthy.

“The most important thing is hydration, and one of reasons for that is forgetting to carry water bottles,” she said. “Another thing is hygiene: people who are good about washing their hands, washing their linen once a week, showering daily, keeping their laundry up to date, and keeping their shipboard environment clean by simply wiping down door knobs and handrails – those things make a significant difference in how many illnesses we see.”

Maintaining a strong medical department aboard Eagle flows from the commanding officer’s philosophy that puts safety first and foremost.

“Eagle is a training ship and the main message that I have tried to continue pressing is there is nothing we do on here that is so important that it’s worth getting somebody seriously hurt,” Sinnett said. “People have to think safety first, and we are trying to teach sailors how to be smart managers of risk. I believe we do a good job of indoctrinating people in making that a part of our daily routine.”

Criss will be aboard Eagle during this summer’s cruise for long enough to see several ports of call in Spain, Monaco, France and Bermuda, before she returns to the Coast Guard Academy Clinic in July.

“I will keep coming to Eagle as long as they will let me,” she said. “I appreciate being able to serve as a medical provider for the crew and guests, the opportunity to travel, and being involved in training, both in the medical department as well as the future fleet.

“Just being a part of the crew that works very hard all the time and being able to be involved and support them in what they do is very rewarding.”

Eagle is the U.S. government’s only tall ship in active service. Originally commissioned Horst Wessel by Germany in 1936, she was recommissioned USCG Eagle a decade later, and her permanent crew of 55 Coast Guard Sailors are joined by hundreds of cadets and officer candidates for sail training every year.