Five things you need to know about Senior Airman Andrew Bean

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jesse Lopez
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Andrew Bean was recently named the Air Force Olson-Wegner Aerospace Medical Technician of the Year.

Here are five things you need to know about Senior Airman Andrew Bean in addition to his recent award:


#1 - The 26-year-old Airman was born and raised in El Paso, Texas and joined the Air Force July 12, 2011. He serves as a medical assistant to flight surgeons with the 97th Medical Operations Squadron and has been stationed at Altus Air Force Base for two years.

#2 - Bean was named the Air Force Olson-Wegner Aerospace Medical Technician of the Year. The award was established by the Society of U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeons to recognize the most outstanding aeromedical enlisted personnel for their contributions to the Air Force Aerospace Medicine Program. The title is in memory of Master Sgt. Gary J. Olson and Airman Shane D. Wegner, who lost their lives in a helicopter accident on October 25, 1991.

#3 - Bean's Barany chair treatment, a spinning chair to aid with motion sickness, successfully treated a pilot attending C-17 airdrop training of airsickness, not only saving the Air Force thousands of dollars, but enabling the pilot to graduate. Bean used his findings to roll out the new digital enlisted Air Education and Training Command Airsickness Management Tracking program to improve both the 97th Medical Group's program as well as airsickness treatment programs throughout the Air Force.

#4 - Flight medicine is truly a job of layers as you peel back one layer another is revealed. Whether he is treating decompression sickness or maintaining a waiver, there is a never-ending list of jobs to be accomplished and data to be tracked that coincide with one another. The expectation of working in the medical field is that the patient is put first, said Bean.

#5 - A career in the medical group is a career dedicated to constant learning, said Bean. "Be a continuous student of medicine. Medicine is a vast field and the physicians we work with will always be willing to teach which in turn only fuels our success."