Medics, volunteers meet Iraqis' medical needs

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kevin Nichols
  • Central Command Air Forces News Team
SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Several times a week, medics from the 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron take a break from their normal “hustle and bustle” work schedule at the clinic to help local Iraqis who feel under the weather.

The medics head out close to the wire to see these patients at the Radhwaniya Medical Clinic Outreach Program building. Tech. Sgt. Michelle Du Lac picked up her stethoscope to listen to a young boy’s chest who hasn’t been feeling too well lately.

“Can you tell him to breathe hard again for me?” she asked the interpreter.

The medical room she and the other medics see the children in is more like a small office stocked with some medical supplies and certain medicines. The building sits just inside the base perimeter fence. These are the days for the medics who can break away from the base’s clinic that they look forward to.

“I’m a better medic for being here,” Sergeant Du Lac said.

While the medics go in the back to prepare for more patients, volunteers like Staff Sgt. Brian Newton play football with the children waiting for their free checkup.

“I love children,” Sergeant Newton said, as he bounced up and down on one end of a seesaw in the backyard of the clinic building. This is his first time to the site.

“I wanted to come out and give to the Iraqi community. I’ve wanted to do this since September of last year,” said Sergeant Newton, who is deployed from the 100th Security Forces Squadron at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England. He hopes by volunteering his time, the children will see him more as a person and less like an Airman at war.

“This (volunteering) is more of a humanitarian mission than a war-time mission,” Sergeant Newton said. “They can see us (Americans) more humane than seen on the news.”

The risk that these Air Force doctors and volunteers take is considerable with the perimeter fence right behind the building where they care for the Iraqi patients. But they feel the benefits and caring they bring to the Iraqi community far outweigh that risk.

“Say ahh!” Sergeant Du Lac takes a look at a child’s throat; red and irritated. To this little boy, Sergeant Du Lac makes an impression with her tongue depressor, both as a military professional and someone who cares about his health and well being.

During their little “break from the norm,” Sergeant Du Lac and the other medics see about 20 to 30 patients a day while at the same time providing a friendship that may just be the best medicine of all.