Scrub “Heaven”: 135th ESC Soldier helps KAF hospital obtain needed scrubs

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN

07.21.2010

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Cashion 

108th Public Affairs Detachment

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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Warfighters on the battlefield need the essentials to survive and win during armed combat. They need weapons, ammunition, protective gear, food and water just for starters.

For those whose responsibility it is to care for the wounded, they also have critical needs. Among those is proper clothing – for both themselves and those they treat.

At the ROLE 3 hospital at Kandahar Airfield, as well as the nearby Kandahar Regional Medical Center, hospital scrubs (clothing worn by doctors and patients) are often in short supply. Recently however, one Soldier in the 135th ESC heard about the shortage and decided to leap into action.

“I heard from our surgeon section that ROLE 3 was short of scrubs,” said Sgt. Tracy Massey, S-1 Admin assistant for the 135th ESC. “My mom is a nurse back home in Alabama and I told her about it. So she helped to organize a scrub drive.”

Things really took off from there. Massey’s mother, Pam Morgan, is the manager of Education and Development at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health Services Foundation. When she found out about the scrub shortage, she organized the effort to obtain and ship as many donated scrubs as possible.

The scrub drive started in March and lasted about one month, during which time approximately 37 boxes of scrubs were collected and prepared for shipment to Afghanistan and ultimately for delivery to the KAF hospital.

“It turned out to be much larger than I ever thought it would,” Massey said. “Everyone back home wanted to be a part of this.”

However, shipping the scrubs halfway around the world was not cheap. Morgan decided to pay for the shipping cost herself so that no more time would be wasted on getting the much needed scrubs to the warfighters.

During the scrub drive, an employee of UAB, who is also a member of the local VFW in Birmingham, heard about the effort and contributed $50 towards the shipping costs. Following the scrub drive, a group of supporters sponsored a bake sale to raise money for the cost of shipping of the scrubs to Afghanistan which ended adding another $600 to the total cost of around $1,200.

A member of the local VFW in Birmingham heard about the effort and contributed $50. Following that, a bake sale raised another $600 and eventually, enough money was raised to cover the $1,200 shipping charges. The boxes began arriving in May.

“What’s great is that we were able to make a connection to what’s going on here with people wanting to support back home,” said Massey. “This connection really means a lot to me and the ones back home.”

Massey, along with Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Ridgeway from the 135th ESCs surgeon section, delivered the first set of scrub boxes to KAF hospital, June 18. Clearly, they seemed happy to receive them.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Belinda Rand, lead primary care nurse in the KAF hospital emergency room. “I am thrilled that [the 135th ESC] thought of us and it can only be good for us.”

She mentioned ways the scrubs will help them and their patients.

“[the donation] will help in two ways: it will really help our staff because we do struggle for scrubs,” Rand said. “And it will also help the people at the Kandahar Regional Medical Center because [hopefully] we will be able to share some with them.”

Ridgeway agreed.

“It was a great mission to help the hospital, to be able to supply them with scrubs,” he said. “Sometimes patients don’t have adequate clothes and these can help and can help the staff as well.”

Additionally, Ridgeway had high praise for Massey’s efforts.

“Massey was the actual lead on this,” Ridgeway said. “She did a great job.”

Massey, who grew up in a patriotic family, said it was the patriotism of those in Alabama that really shined through.

“The passion those back home put into this was incredible,” she said. ‘They wanted to help and they really did.”