DVIDS Hub works best with JavaScript enabled

Ghanaian, US hands work, heal together

Photo By Maj. Satomi Mack-Martin | U.S. Army 1st Lt. Brian Elliott, a part of the Medical Readiness Training Exercise...... read more read more

ACCRA, GHANA

02.26.2016

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

ACCRA, Ghana – Surgical lights shine brightly onto operating tables where hands of Ghanaian and American doctors and nurses work together to treat patients.

Through Medical Readiness Training Exercise 16-2 held at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, a small team of U.S. military medical professionals worked side-by-side Ghanaian medical professionals in a program that allows both militaries to strengthen their medical treatment capabilities and capacities while conducting routine, trauma and surgical procedures.

Events like MEDRETE 16-2 provide valuable medical training and experience to U.S. active and reserve component medical personnel. U.S. Army Africa in coordination with 3rd Medical Command (Deployment Support), the 7th Civil Support Command and the U.S. Embassy Ghana, partnered with the Ghanaian Defense Force to bring the exercise to Ghana.

“There were tremendous learning opportunities here,” said Col. Kevin Moore, a family medicine doctor for Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, who worked in the Medical Emergency Department during the MEDRETE. “I had to read up on things for hours on what I saw here, because I don’t see them regularly in the U.S.,” Moore said.

Lt. Col. Tyson Becker, trauma surgeon, and Lt. Col Scott Howard, oral surgeon, both from BAMC, performed a tracheotomy on the last day of the exercise. Surgery consisted of removing a tracheal tube from a patient’s mouth and surgically inserting another into the neck allowing for easier weaning-off of a ventilator, said Becker.

“Dr. Howard does a lot of tracheotomies as an ENT [ear, nose, and throat] surgeon, and I do a lot as a trauma surgeon, but we use different techniques. So not only were we teaching the Ghanaian ENT resident how to do it, but we were showing each other how to,” said Becker.

The Ghanaian ENT resident had previously observed tracheotomies but had not conducted one prior to the surgery performed by both Becker and Howard. Through the MEDRETE, the resident was able to participate in her first tracheotomy.

“It’s really helpful working with your colleagues, both Ghanaian and home station colleagues,” Howard said. “You get to learn a lot just by doing other cases that you wouldn’t normally do, whether it be with a neurosurgeon from Ghana or your general surgeon colleagues. It’s a great opportunity,” Howard said.

MEDRETE 16-2 allowed U.S. doctors and nurses to train in an austere environment, share medical procedures and build lasting relationships with Ghanaian medical professionals.

Col. Joseph Paulino, chief of the Department of Anesthesia and Operative Services at BAMC, worked as the lead preoperative nurse throughout the various operating rooms during MEDRETE 16-2.

“The purpose of the mission is to practice medicine and nursing in those austere environments,” Paulino said. “With some things, we don’t get the opportunity to do until we are deployed, and as deployments start to shrink and shrink, we become less and less prepared to take care of America’s sons and daughters at the tip of the spear. So we have to use these things and leverage them so that we’re ready to go when it’s our turn to get on a plane and head to other places,” he said.

Many MEDRETE 16-2 U.S. Army doctors and nurses said their comfort levels were pushed as they faced challenges during the exercise.

Maj. Michael Fisher, a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas, said, “The takeaway message is to be flexible. When supplies run low, you still have to get the job done effectively,” he said. “Working with the Ghanaian military hospital, I was able to learn new ways to think about how I would maintain U.S. standards of care in supply or resource-constrained environments.

“I take advantage while on different missions to cross-train,” said Sgt. Daniel Soto, an operating room specialist at CRDAMC. “When you’re at home station, you have to do your job. So I feel that being cross-trained is very important in this environment,” he said.

U.S. engagements with African countries aren’t new. For the past few decades, America has partnered with African militaries in medical capacity-building events, various training engagements and across a number of other key skill sets.

The main emphasis for MEDRETE 16-2 was focused on building partnerships to further cross-training opportunities and interoperability

“I’ve been able to talk to my partners about the way they conduct business on a daily basis, as well as share experiences from both my deployments and my normal job at home,” Fisher said. “The Ghanaians provide very excellent medical care here and it’s been a nice partnership.”

“I’m proud of being apart of this mission,” said 1st Lt. Frank Goka, a mobilized U.S. Army Reserve Soldier with the 7238th Medical Support Unit assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, as a nurse case manager for the Soldier Readiness Processing station.

Goka was a critical care nurse for the intensive care burn unit during MEDRETE 16-2. Originally from Accra, Ghana, Goka trained as a nurse and worked at the 37 Military Hospital for eight years before emigrating to the U.S. in 2004.

“Coming back to my old fold is a real pleasure,” Goka said. “The pleasure was reciprocated by the Ghanaian folks here. They were so happy seeing me back home, and coming to partner with them.”

A shipment of U.S. Army medical supplies was delivered to the 37 Military Hospital as a replenishment of materials used during the MEDRETE.

MEDRETE 16-2 directly supports the U.S. Army’s Ghanaian counterparts in building partner capacity and will enhance the effectiveness of the Ghanaian military by improving the health of their forces and mission readiness.