Medics relieve pain at home, in war

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Catharine Schmidt
  • Air Force Print News
SAN ANTONIO --  As servicemembers continue to fight the war on terrorism, a small group of Airmen at Balad Air Base, Iraq, is ensuring that each warfighter is fit to fight. At the same time they are gaining valuable experience to bring home.

The physical and occupational therapy clinic at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad is the only one of its kind in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The clinic currently has two physical therapists, an occupational therapist and three physical medicine technicians.

Since the war on terrorism began, servicemembers are experiencing medical ailments many have never endured, from backaches caused by body armor to sprained ankles caused by an unfamiliar terrain.

“The clinic sees a lot of ankle, knee, back and neck injuries, many of which are related to the weight of the body armor,” said Lt. Col. Mark Pape, 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group physical therapist at Balad. “The frontline troops are running, jumping and dodging bullets in this (gear). Along with the body armor, all of the extra equipment and ammo adds up to a lot of wear and tear on the body. Many of the ankle and knee injuries stem from the rough terrain. All of the forward-operating bases have lots of gravel, and that is really hard on the knees and ankles.”

For many troops, the body armor and austere environment are something new for them, and the daily grind can be difficult to endure.

“One patient we worked with (at Balad) was an elementary school teacher back home, and was now armor plating Humvees,” said Maj. Brian Young, a senior physical therapist at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, who returned from Balad in January. “Working with elementary school kids did not prepare her to lift heavy armor plating and weld. That’s a big difference. It’s going to cause problems.”

These medics ensure troops are back to duty and try to eliminate sending them back home.

“We return troops to the fight as soon as possible,” said Master Sgt. Timothy Gustafson, noncommissioned officer in charge of the physical medicine flight at Balad, who is deployed from Dover AFB, Del. “We directly impact the mission by keeping the troop levels where they need to be. Instead of sending them to Germany or the United States for evaluation or treatment, we are able to treat them in theater and allow for quicker return to duty.”

Not only are they keeping servicemembers in the fight, they are also allowing surgeons to focus on saving lives.

“The surgeons can focus on surgery and care for those with traumatic injury -- we’re able to free them up for that,” said Capt. Jeremiah Samson, a staff physical therapist at Wilford Hall, who returned from his deployment to Iraq in May. “We also did a lot of other things to help providers there -- assisting with wound care and removing sutures and staples.”

Like many Airmen who are seeing a combat environment for the first time, these medics are seeing the traumatic effects even if they are not directly involved.

“The exposure to trauma is constant,” said Colonel Pape, a reservist from Goodfellow AFB, Texas. “You see things here that you (may) never see anywhere else. I am not directly involved with the intensive care unit or the emergency room, but whenever we lose someone -- insurgent, civilian or military -- the whole hospital seems to suffer.”

Along with servicemembers seeking physical therapy, medics also provide care to civilians and Iraqis. Wherever they are and whoever they are caring for at the time, Tech. Sgt. Bianca Pulley said she has learned that people are all the same.

“I don’t have to face some of the dangers the people who have to go outside the wire do," said the physical medicine technician from Wilford Hall. "So once the Iraqis are released from our facility, you hope that impression will remain with them, and they will deter someone from attacking our troops.”

As they continue to treat patients, the medics are gaining valuable experience in their career field.

“(There are) therapists and technicians from different bases giving us a greater exposure to different techniques and treatment,” Sergeant Pulley said. “You can gain exposure by watching, but you gain experience by actually participating. We follow doctors during rounds, we can observe surgeries and get the hands-on experience by treating patients.”

“In any medical field, practice makes perfect,” Colonel Pape said. “Everyone here in the clinic will be a better care provider after their deployment is over.”

“Being deployed has opened my eyes,” Captain Samson said. “When seeing patients now who say they’ll be deploying, I’m able to monitor them better and make appropriate recommendations as to their worldwide qualifications.”

As the medics deal with the incoming patients, they also are enduring the harsh deployed environment with everyone else.

“I went from working five days a week (at home) to seven days a week in Iraq,” Major Young said. “We were in the clinic about 10 hours a day, and we were on call for mass casualty situations that may have occurred anytime -- day or night.”

It may not be the clinic they are used to at home, but they are making the most of it.

“The working environment here is quite good,” Sergeant Gustafson said. “We have a fully functioning hospital. The only difference is that we have canvas walls instead of concrete. We may not have many of the nice-to-have items, but we are fully capable of operating a physical medicine clinic in this austere environment.”

For Airmen who will be deploying, the medics offer some advice to deal with the new environment physically.

“Make sure you implement a stretching program in addition to your normal fitness routine,” Sergeant Gustafson said. “People tend to overlook the importance of stretching for overall good health.”

“Develop some conditioning program before you are actually deployed,” Sergeant Pulley said. “You’ll have stressors, so it’s best to be physically prepared as well as mentally prepared.”

“Get fit before you deploy, and stay fit while you are in country,” Colonel Pape said.

But no matter where they are treating patients, the medics’ goal is the same.

“I believe the core value of our mission in Iraq is basically the same as it is back home,” Sergeant Gustafson said. “We treat patients to the best of our ability. Our primary objective is to relieve pain and restore function.”