HomeNewsFeatures

Features
Air Power

FEATURES

Landstuhl symbol of hope to wounded troops

  • Published
  • By Louis A. Arana-Barradas
  • Air Force Print News
LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany --  This huge hospital and its joint medical team have become strong symbols of hope to U.S. troops wounded or hurt in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Col. (Dr.) Dean Bricker, 435th Medical Squadron commander, said he has heard that troops “downrange” are saying “if they can make it to Landstuhl, they know they have a very high change of living and making it back to the (United) States.”

And with good reason. The center is the only U.S. military tertiary care facility outside the United States. On its staff are doctors and technicians in nearly every medical and surgical specialty. And the specialties it does not have are available on the local German economy, Dr. Bricker said.

“We provide top-notch care here,” he said. “And we are state of the art in every way.”

Nobody knows that better that Marine Corps Cpl. Tyler Einarson, a 3rd Marine Division rifleman wounded while in northeastern Afghanistan. Al-Qaida fighters ambushed his patrol in mid-August and shot him twice.

“I was taking a break after an all-night (march) to our base,” Corporal Einarson said. “We were told to rest. I was just sitting there and got shot in the arm and chest.”

The bullet to the chest missed his heart by less than an inch but hit one of his lungs.

The Marine managed to find cover and then shouted for a corpsman. A medevac helicopter arrived and flew him to Bagram Air Base. There, he said, doctors “put a chest tube in me, and then they flew me to Germany.” He remembers the medics and the C-17 Globemaster III flight to Ramstein Air Base, a 15- to 20-minute drive from the medical center.

“Everybody was very kind and did their best to make me feel comfortable,” he said.

Landstuhl is one of the stops along the aeromedical evacuation route that takes wounded troops from the battlefield to stateside military hospitals. Before getting here, they typically receive care at a forward-deployed location and get a medevac ride to a hospital -- like at Bagram or Balad Air Base, Iraq -- for more definite care, Dr. Bricker said.

“And after a period of stabilization, they can go from there by air evacuation to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center,” he said.

When patients arrive at Ramstein, the squadron’s contingency aeromedical staging flight unloads them from the aircraft and take them by ambulance bus to their own ward at the base or directly here. When patients are due here, the medical teams quickly gear up for their arrival. Once off the ambulance, a team of doctors triages the patients to assess which ones need immediate medical care.

Waiting for them here are more than 1,500 Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine and civilian health-care providers. The squadron’s 300 Airmen are integrated into the Army-run hospital.

“(The more critical patients) might go right into the operating room,” Dr. Bricker said. “We send the others to the wards in the hospital where they will receive treatment.”

From April through late July, the joint team of medics received or loaded more than 4,770 patients on aircraft. More than 225 of those needed critical care during every mile of their trip to the next hospital. Typically, Dr. Bricker said, the hospital will get 30 to 40 patients at a time.

“Sometimes we’re able to do whatever medical intervention is necessary and return them to duty,” he said. “A fairly high percentage of them, compared to other wars, are able to return to duty from here.”

Patients who need more prolonged care go via military medevac to stateside military hospitals.

As the medics work around the clock, and many work with terribly injured patients, it can take its toll, said Senior Master Sgt. Adam Marks, the squadron’s superintendent of Air Force operations.

“Some people are horribly wounded. You wouldn’t be human if you weren’t affected by what you’re seeing,” said Sergeant Marks, an independent medical technician.

In the recovery room, the medics see all the patients after surgery. Tech Sgt. Michelle Baker has been the noncommissioned officer in charge of the recovery room for more than two months. Her joint team sees about 75 patients a week, one-third to one-half from Iraq or Afghanistan.

“We see a lot of blast injuries, but the majority are orthopedic injuries,” Sergeant Baker said. “But then we see the regular medical stuff from downrange, too, like appendectomies, runners who hurt their knees -- pretty much all kinds of injuries.”

Sergeant Baker said the toughest part of her job is dealing with the young troops who reach the recovery ward with obvious life-changing injuries. The medics do their job and make their short stay as they recover from anesthesia as comfortable as possible. Still, in that short time they are in the ward, the medics get to know quite a bit about them. Sergeant Baker said she tries not to dwell on each patient.

“I wouldn’t say we get too emotionally attached to patients because they’re with us just an hour at the most,” she said. “And as long as I know I’m doing my job, then everything is all right.”

But she knows focusing on the job will not shield her from the emotions of service she provides. Sometimes Sergeant Baker vents to her husband.

“If I’ve had a really bad day, I’ll go home and talk to my husband about it,” she said. “He’s always very supportive.”

The hospital has people available around the clock to help the staff cope with the job they do. Sergeant Marks said most of the hospital’s medical team, no matter their service affiliation, finds ways to deal with what they see. Many put a keen focus on their mission.

“So they can see how they fit into that puzzle and that they’re doing something good,” the sergeant said. “They’re making a difference, and that’s exciting -- to see the wheels turning in those young minds.”

Toward the end of August the medical center’s patient load had diminished, Sergeant Marks said.

“Thankfully, we haven’t had as much work and we’re on a down slope,” the sergeant said. “I hope that continues.”

But as the war on terrorism continues, the hospital staff knows their services will remain in high demand. The troops in the field count on it, and even with a lull, patients continue arriving at the hilltop hospital. And their joint service team keeps improving.

Dr. Bricker said the medical center is the first in the military where an Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps staff works side by side. He said the team works together like a smooth mechanism to deliver outstanding patient care. That makes Landstuhl the role model for the future of military medical care.

“We set the example,” Dr. Bricker said. “There are going to be other medical centers looking to us to see how we’ve done it.”

A group of congressmen visited the hospital to see exactly how the joint staff was working. Such visits are getting to be routine and the staff is used to them. After some briefings on the hospital operation, the lawmakers toured some of the wards to check in on some patients. They made a short visit to the ward where Corporal Einarson was recovering.

The representatives had a large entourage. The commotion temporarily snapped the young troop out of his painkiller-induced stupor. He laid on his bed in his hospital pajamas, with no covers. Two visitors came to his bedside and asked what happened to him. After explaining his story, for possibly the 100th time, the Marine gamely stood up -- intravenous tube stuck to his arm -- and had his photo taken with them. He wanted to send the photo home to his folks.

A congressman asked the Marine if he needed anything.

“No, I don’t need anything, thank you,” he replied. “The nurses and other medics here -- all I have to do is beep, and they come right in to help me with anything I need.”

A few minutes later, Airman 1st Class Cassandra Gillard, a medical technician, came in to check on the Marine. After days in the hospital, he was cranky and wanted to return to his home base at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base, Hawaii. But first, he would have to get better.

The Airman told him she was there to “take you to a doctor who’ll change your bandage.” She was calm and the tone of her voice seemed to soothe the battle weary Marine. As they stepped out of the room into the corridor, Airman Gillard stopped and removed the IV dangling from Corporal Einarson arm. They seemed oblivious to events going on around them.

“I’m feeling good today,” he said. “I’m all right. They’ve taken real good care of me here.”

When his lung recuperates enough for him to fly, the Marine will go to a stateside hospital.

Servicemembers who arrive here can expect the same quality care, Sergeant Marks said. The care is a team effort because there is no Air Force way and no Army way of caring for patients, he said.

“You can’t tell who is taking care of a patient,” he said. “But you know it will be excellent care.”

And, he said, troops fighting in the war on terrorism appreciate that.