Medical advisors guide Iraqi Army back into patients' trust

Published Sept. 7, 2009
By Staff Sgt. Stacia Zachary
USAFCENT Combat Camera Team

CAMP UR, Iraq -- Getting the clinic running efficiently is just one of the goals of the medical advisors here. The other is getting the Iraqi Soldiers to use the care available to them.

Camp Ur boasts a fully functioning medical clinic complete with a three-bay emergency room, pharmacy, dentist, radiology department and public health as well as a highly trained team of doctors, nurses and technicians on staff.

"We're not dealing with a staff of incapable and untrained providers," said Tech. Sgt. Parrish Shaw, Logistics Military Advisory Team (LMAT) medical materiel advisor. "We're fighting against a preconceived notion that American medicine is superior to what the Iraqis offer. As long as we treat people, the Iraqis will continue to treat their own medical system as inadequate."

Hence the recent shift of operations over to Iraqi control.

"The main push now isn't to get the Iraqi medical staff up to our standards - they're already there for the most part - it's getting the Soldiers to go to the clinic and not seek us out," said Army Staff Sergeant Barbara Seabert, LMAT medical advisor.

Gaining their trust and confidence is a major priority among the medical staff. Every time the U.S. military advisors encourage the Soldiers to go to the Camp Ur medical clinic, the staff gets a chance to help restore the Soldier's confidence in Iraqi medical care, said an Iraqi Army emergency room nurse.

The advisors are often on-hand when a Soldier comes in and take those opportunities to teach the staff on the latest medical procedure or offer suggestions to better address or diagnose certain ailments.

After spending a few days in the ER observing the patients and the symptoms a large percentage were displaying, Sergeant Seabert began to question if there was more to a rash of diarrhea and dehydration cases.

"She became very curious about all the cases and started putting two and two together and discovered that the Soldiers were all suffering from typhoid," said Lt. Col. Steven Ramsay, LMAT senior advisor.

Although the water purification systems on base are being brought up to current sanitation standards, poor water supply is a common problem throughout rural Iraq.

Even though the advisors were told that typhoid was no longer an issue here the Soldiers' conditions stated otherwise. Getting the water properly sanitized and enforcing better hygiene standards, while a good long-term goal, is only part of the solution, said Sergeant Seabert.

The sergeant then went on a mission to get vaccinations for all the Soldiers here. Approximately 5,000 vaccinations would need to be located - something that was quickly becoming a challenge.

"The Air Force was crucial to getting those vaccines," she said. "Now, the doctors here have a way to stop the typhoid outbreak and will buy them some time to fix the water problem."

The hands-on medical training is only one portion of getting the medical clinic functioning in a capable and efficient manner. Having a good record keeping system and having the right supplies available is another battle currently being waged.

"My challenge is to encourage them to keep a supply schedule and to start stocking more of what they need instead of everything," Sergeant Shaw said. "For so long they had nothing and as a result the Iraqis have a 'Depression-era' mentality and they hoard anything they can get."

With a better supply tracking system being used, the medical advisors are shifting their attention to updating medical equipment.

"Much of what they have dates back to when the Australians built this hospital more than five years ago," Sergeant Seabert said. "They doing an amazing job with what they have but the equipment is old or broken and in order to get them operating independently, they need newer equipment."

Another way the team is bringing the medical clinic on-line with American medical facilities is to do regular training sessions with the staff. Once a week, Sergeant Seabert will go over a particular procedure and train the medical staff on it.

"If I can get them comfortable with new methods, then when a person comes in the door needing that particular method of treatment they will feel completely comfortable administering the technique themselves," she said.

Sometimes, training pops up outside of the classroom. Recently, an Iraqi Army interpreter's father was very ill and was rushed to the medical clinic here. He has been given too large a dose of a blood thinner and was bleeding out. Rather than risking the father dying while being transported to the hospital in Nasiriyah, Sergeant Seabert used the situation as an opportunity to train the staff.

"That day was a true win for the medical staff and the advisors," the colonel said. "Sergeant Seabert could have just fixed the father up herself but instead, she gave the doctors experience to treat the next case that may walk in their doors. That's what it's all about - showing the Iraqis so they can do this on their own."