1st Lt. Regina Bean, of the 18th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, poses with Kin Mayor Hajime Nakama and Col. Josh Lundeby, deputy commander of the 18th Wing, at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Jun. 6, 2024. Bean was honored for saving a motorcyclist's life in February. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — A local mayor has recognized an Air Force public health operations chief for saving a motorcyclist who suffered severe injuries during a traffic accident in northern Okinawa.
1st Lt. Regina Bean, of the 18th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, received a certificate of appreciation Thursday from Kin Mayor Hajime Nakama, during a morning ceremony at 18th Wing headquarters.
Bean, of Bardstown, Ky., was off duty Feb. 3 and traveling to Nago with her husband, Capt. Benjamin Bean, and two friends, 1st Lt. Gabriel Silva and his wife, Samantha Silva, to see the cherry blossoms, she told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony. They noticed traffic backing up and that “someone was on the ground.”
A motorcycle had collided head-on with another vehicle on Route 58, Okinawa’s central highway, in the Tancha district of Onna town.
The motorcyclist, a man in his 50s, suffered a leg injury, an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman said by phone May 22.
“Once I got closer, I noticed that there was a man lying on the ground who had his right foot mostly amputated and was only being held on by a small piece of skin,” Bean said.
Bean, relying on her 13 years of experience as an air medical technician in the Air National Guard, placed a torniquet on the man’s upper thigh, she said. Seeing that was not enough, she requested another belt.
The second torniquet was more difficult, because her and her friend’s hands were covered in blood. With her husband’s help they used an umbrella to tighten the belt.
Subsequently, her husband brought a first aid kit from their car and handed her a towel to stop the bleeding from a large gash on the man’s leg, Bean said.
Lacking a pen, Bean daubed her finger in the man’s blood to write on his forehead the time she applied the tourniquets, she said.
1st Lt. Regina Bean, center, of the 18th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, receives a certificate of appreciation at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Jun. 6, 2024. Bean was honored for saving a motorcyclist's life in February. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
“The paramedics found the man in dangerous condition; he was pale and in shock,” Nakama, also director of the Kin District Fire Department, said after handing Bean the award. “The first aid provided before the paramedics arrived significantly improved the injured person’s prognosis.”
“It is not easy to administer first aid when someone unexpectedly encounters such situations,” he said. “Our society is supported by courageous individuals like First Lieutenant Bean.”
Bean also received a certificate of appreciation from Ishikawa police on May 21, the police spokesman said. Some government officials in Japan may speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
“I am humbled and proud to receive the recognition,” Bean said, adding that her husband and the Silvas deserve credit, too. “Without them I may not have been able to save the man’s life,” she said.
Bean’s unit commander, Maj. Melissa Peters of the 18th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron’s public health flight, said Bean just a day before the accident had completed a three-day course on tactical combat casualty care that included lifesaving skills.
“I am very proud of Lieutenant Bean, yet not at all surprised that she was willing and able to step in to save a local man’s life,” Peters told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony. “Her skillset was essential, but it was really her keen sense of urgency, compassion for others in need and her personal drive to succeed that led her to help.”
