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BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - When receiving a set of orders for a deployment, many people are left with an assortment of questions; what will I do, where will I go and will I make a difference.
For U.S. Air Force Maj. Jonathan Forbes, a neurosurgeon assigned to the 455th Expeditionary Medical Group, he knew he would be deploying from the friendly confines of Travis Air Force Base, California, and going to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, where he would work at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital, which is the busiest hospital in Afghanistan.
“In talking with some guys that have been here before, there’s this expectation of being involved in trauma surgery and war injuries,” said Forbes, a New Martinsville, West Virginia native. “I had heard about the humanitarian hospital, but I didn’t really know what to expect, I didn’t know what kind of cases we would be seeing in comparison to the elective cases we see back home. I really didn’t know what to expect at all, but it has been a very pleasant experience here.”
According to Forbes working at CJTH is no easy task; many of the staff are on call 24/7 for trauma care for Afghan and American soldiers as well as contractors.
As a Neurosurgeon, Forbes receives calls regarding any injuries to the brain or spinal column and any herniated discs that American or Afghan service members may experience. These types of injuries are what Forbes is here for.
Since those injuries do not occur often, the 455 EMDG allows their doctors to assist in providing humanitarian services at the Korean Humanitarian Hospital here.
Forbes and a few other doctors have been able to see patients during specific clinic hours at the Korean hospital.
The Korean Hospital is staffed with Korean and Afghan doctors, which according to Forbes allows for an intersection of three cultures.
“It’s been great commiserating with the physicians and just talking with them about different cases,” said Forbes.
The process of seeing patients is a team effort from the start as Afghan and Korean physicians see the patients and utilize CT scans to decide whether they may need the help of one of the American physicians.
With these partnerships, Forbes has built a bond with some of the Afghan physicians.
“I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Forbes,“ said Dr. Ahmed, an Afghan doctor with the hospital “With him being a neurosurgeon, I’ve learned a lot about brain tumors, the place of the brain tumor and the spinal cord; the disc compression and the genetic change. With this training, when this hospital closes in June of 2015, I hope to open my own place."
There were some challenges that Forbes faced. Not so much with what kind of service to provide, but how to provide it, due in large part to the limited equipment that was available.
“The surgical practice and what we choose to operate on doesn’t change much, but how we do it changes quite a bit,” added Forbes.
In those challenges, Forbes has found successes. In one such case, there was a woman who was very weak in her legs and had lost the ability to walk. The woman had tuberculosis and had developed Potts Disease in her spinal column, which caused the spinal cord to be pinched. His team took bone from her fibula and reconstructed her spinal column and now the woman is back to walking again.
Forbes had limited expectations when he journeyed to Bagram, but in the end, he was able to contribute and make a difference and learn from his deployment after performing 65 surgeries and conducting countless consultations.
“I had a certain set of expectations coming in and that was different than what I encountered,” added Forbes. “I have a better sense of the culture over here. This is a nation over here fighting to establish itself. It’s been a pleasure serving here.”
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.04.2014 13:26 |
| Story ID: | 146942 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Hometown: | NEW MARTINSVILLE, WV, US |
| Hometown: | TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 223 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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