Extraordinary care packed in ordinary tents

  • Published
  • By Army Sgt. Dallas Walker
  • 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  In a sea of tents and trailers on Balad Air Base in northern Iraq, shrapnel is being surgically removed from a limb, medics are racing to stop someone from bleeding to death and another life is being saved from wounds inflicted on the battlefield. 

It is that sea of tents which houses the Air Force theater hospital, where servicemembers and civilians get the most advanced medical care possible in a combat zone. 

Run by the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group, the hospital offers trauma and specialized medical care for people throughout Iraq and serves as the theater aeromedical evacuation support hub. 

"If you arrive here alive, you have about a 96 percent chance of leaving here alive," said Col. (Dr.) Elisha Powell, 332nd EMDG commander. 

The availability of specialized care at the hospital is like nothing seen in a combat zone in the past, making it easier to save lives, Dr.Powell said. 

"What makes this hospital so successful in Iraq is that we push technology so far forward," he said. "We've never pushed specialties this far onto the battlefield before." 

The hospital boasts a staff of surgeons who specialize in procedures on the brain, heart, bones and soft tissue. It has six operating rooms and nearly everything a standard hospital has, from a pharmacy and x-ray lab to a nutritionist — all in the heart of a combat zone. 

First line care 
"Medics and what they do, basic and advanced first aid, is where life saving begins," Dr. Powell said. 

The survival of a combat casualty depends largely on the first echelon of medical care. The most important aspect is stopping the bleeding. 

"The number one cause of preventable death in Iraq is exsanguination — bleeding out," Dr. Powell said. "If Soldiers don't stop the bleeding and use the tourniquets put in their first aid kit, then (the casualty) probably won't make it to us."

Dust off --  Arriving at the hospital 
The sound of medevac pilots calling in their status echoes as Army and Air Force medics in the patient administration office of the hospital prepare for their landing -- the crucial first minutes of a casualty's arrival at the hospital. Most of the casualties treated at the hospital are brought in on a medevac flight. 

"I give all the credit in the world to the flight medics," said Staff Sgt. Jalkennen Joseph, an emergency room medic. "I've never seen anyone perform their job above and beyond like they do. They do things you only see in movies or read about in books. They do it on a daily basis and they do it well." 

The medevac crews try to get casualties to the hospital within the "golden hour" -- the first 60 minutes after injury. 

"Getting patients here quickly, keeping them warm and stopping the bleeding are key to life saving in trauma," Dr. Powell said. 

Within minutes of landing on the hospital helipad, the medevac crew and hospital staff take the casualty to the emergency room.

The ER 
"This is (the casualty's) first stop in the hospital," Sergeant Joseph said. "Our job is to stabilize the patient. We check the ABCs. We check their airway, we check to see if they are bleeding and we check their circulation." 

Doctors assess the casualty in the emergency room to determine the appropriate course of action, Sergeant Joseph said.

Next stop … 
The hospital staff prides themselves on rapid care -- stabilizing patients and getting them out of the hospital. 

"If a patient requires surgery to survive, it will be done here," Sergeant Joseph said. "Most of the patients we care for don't even know they were here. Most of them are severely injured and unconscious. We stabilize them and send them to (Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in) Germany as quickly as possible." 

Patients stay at the theater hospital the shortest amount of time possible, Dr. Powell said. The goal is to perform whatever measures are necessary to save their lives and send them to a facility geared toward long-term care.

The patient 
The hospital provides care and treatment to anyone wounded in combat. More U.S. Army Soldiers are treated than anyone else and coalition forces make up 60 percent of the patient load. 

The remaining 40 percent of patients seen at the hospital are Iraqi citizens, terrorists and detainees injured in combat. 

"We give (Iraqis) the same medical care as anyone else," Dr. Powell said. "We're not military police, we're not (military intelligence), we are medics. Detainees get the same healthcare as the Soldiers, as the Iraqi Police, as the Iraqi Army. Our job is to provide the highest standard of medical care."

The team 
The hospital has a mostly Air Force staff, with support teams from the U.S. Army and Navy as well as the Australian army, navy and air force. There are more than 250 medics assigned to the theater hospital. 

"We have all really clicked working together," Sergeant Joseph said. "We run this place smoothly, doing the same mission. We live by the hospital motto 'One team. One mission.'" 

A majority of the Airmen assigned to the theater hospital, including Dr. Powell and Sergeant Joseph, come from Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio -- one of only two military hospitals that treat civilian trauma patients. 

"People here are selfless and go out and do their job," Sergeant Joseph said. "Most of the people we treat got injured serving their country." 

In the sea of tents, another life is being saved by a hard-working medic or an experienced surgeon with the best combat medical care available in Iraq. 

"It's an honor to be able to care for the wounded out here," Sergeant Joseph said. "It's a lifetime experience. I can't stress enough; it's what we are proud and happy to do."