Medical symposium strengthens ties in Kirkuk

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Allen
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  U.S. Air Force and Army physicians welcomed their local Iraqi counterparts here July 22 for a gathering of medical knowledge and camaraderie in a region recently the focus of intense terror bombings.

The medical symposium, a joint effort on the part of 506th Expeditionary Medical Squadron officials and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team surgeon, initially began as a forum concerning transferring Iraqi patients treated at the base. 

Squadron officials were working out a plan to transfer critically injured post operative Iraqi civilians from the military system to local hospitals, according to Col. Tama Van Decar, 506 EMEDS commander. 

"In lieu of a working local transfer plan, patients had been moved to Balad Air Base, thereby placing a utilization burden on the intensive care unit there and removing patients from their communities and families," she said.

The idea of bringing together base and local medical providers to discuss how best to facilitate the transfers soon became a reality, as Army Civil Affairs officials took the lead in organizing the meeting and arranging for the Kirkuk doctors to travel on base. While the opportunity to streamline care was the original intent of the symposium, the gathering became much more than that.

Maj. Keyan Riley, 506 EMEDS surgeon and team leader for the mobile field surgical team here, said the meeting of about 20 medical personnel from the base and eight physicians from downtown was greatly anticipated. In addition to the topic of patient transfer, education on trauma treatment concepts and the opportunity to learn of the recent successes and struggles in rebuilding the internal trauma care network in Kirkuk, despite limited resources and security, were the other two ideas addressed at the symposium.

"It was an honor to meet with these local physicians, many of whom have returned to Kirkuk in the past few years after decades of expulsion that occurred during the prior political regime," said the major, who deployed to Kirkuk from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., as did most of the EMEDS personnel.

"These physicians see a need for stable healthcare in their local area and are interested in rebuilding their trauma network based on the principles of rapid transport, better pre-hospital treatment and dedicated trauma surgical teams," he said. "This meeting was an important step in providing them additional tools to do those things, and for us to learn from their experiences."

"In our small part of the world, it was nation building at its best," said Colonel Van Decar. "It was wonderful to share concepts in damage-control surgery, and was rewarding to learn how to best access their medical system.

"It was also sobering to listen to their stories and hear about their limited resources," said the colonel, an anesthesiologist by trade.  "Yet through it all these physicians persevere."

"As physicians, we all look forward to the day when there are no more bombs and explosions in this city," said Major Riley. "I see the medical arena as a common ground on which to cooperate and build confidence in the local trauma care system. Hopefully, by boosting their medical capacity, the region and nation will be more stable."

Remarks by the deputy director general for the Kirkuk Ministry of Health, Dr. Burhan, emphasized the undying efforts made by local physicians to overcome insurgent destruction and advance their cause, using words that sound much like an attitude brought to the shores of the New World more than 200 years ago.

"Under the previous regime, (Iraqi physicians) were forced into exile," said the deputy director. "You, the American warriors, came and set our country free. You are here, and perhaps you think you do nothing, but you are wrong.  Just you being here means we are free.

"Iraqi physicians take risks every day, receiving death threats two to three times a day by phone and email," he said. "We leave our homes and are at risk from insurgents until we return at the close of day, and even then we are at risk. But we have tasted tyranny and would rather face the risk, because it means we are free."

Colonel Van Decar spoke of the impact of the deputy director's words, saying the symposium was "a day all of us will remember forever. It reminded us how powerful the concept of freedom is to the people of Iraq... how powerful it is to each of us."

Although the Kirkuk area has seen its increasing share of violence in recent weeks, the feeling of the medical community both on base and off is shared by servicemembers assigned here, the risks involved with duty in Iraq are far outweighed by the reward: freedom. 

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