Photo By Staff Sgt. Samantha Simmons | Iraqi nurses are eager to discuss the training they have completed in the Preparatory...... read more read more
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BAGHDAD – "I want to be a nurse and serve my people and my country," reads an Arabic placard hanging in the Saqlawiyah clinic.
United States forces gave the colorful placard, displaying a nurse tending to a patient, to Dr. Ayad al-Hadithy at the Field Nursing College, May 4, in Saqlawiyah, just west of Fallujah. U.S. Division-Center physicians recognized Ayad for his continuation of a nursing program started in 2006.
Maj. Darrin Frye, a native of Jupiter, Fla., and the battalion surgeon for 414th Civil Affairs Battalion, started the Preparatory Iraqi Nursing Course with Air Force Capt. Samantha Elmore.
It has evolved into a gateway to provide Iraqi women with other training opportunities.
"When I came here [in 2006], my intent was to restore the physicians group," said Frye, "but it became quite apparent that the physicians weren't where the weakness was in the health system. The physicians didn't have any mid-levels…no one to take care of patients."
Frye's discovery that the real shortage in the health system was nurses, not physicians, prompted him to create the course, which has persisted over the years.
Frye said there were only 300 nurses in all of Iraq, when in fact there should have been 70,000.
The program was drafted to train women as nurses, not to certify them, said Frye. The first course was taught in Radwaniyah with the full intention that Iraqi women would get the same quality of education they do in the States.
"We wrote the curriculum from scratch with a zero budget, but we still wanted it to be a challenging course," said Frye.
It was extremely dangerous, but the women kept coming, said Frye. Some women would walk six or seven miles with their children through dangerous streets, facing threats and discrimination. Frye realized his problems were miniscule in this world, and he recognized how thirsty for knowledge these Iraqi women truly were.
All 12 women graduated after taking what Frye deemed a very difficult two-month course and final exam. "I think I was more nervous about the final exam than they were," he said.
"One of our graduates took [PINC] to a local doctor in Fallujah (Dr. Ayad al-Hadithy) and they recreated the program," said Frye.
Ayad is in charge of medical operations in Fallujah but also runs the medical clinic in Saqlawiyah. Ayad teaches women nursing skills out of his office with the same program Frye created many years ago, plus he sees patients.
"I'm a doctor, and my job is to serve people whenever, wherever," said Ayad.
Because it is difficult for women outside of Baghdad to commute to universities, it's important to push the education into the communities, said Sgt. 1st Class Melvin Bautiste, a native of Honolulu and the Company B, 1st Armd. Div. Medical Civil Medical Operations noncommissioned officer in charge. He added the women are even permitted to bring their children to class.
"We're not trying to compete with Universities," said Frye. "We're trying to [enable] them to not only help themselves, but to take care of their immediate families."
An average Iraqi woman has eight children, so even with just first aid training these women will be providing aid to 10 to 12 people minimum within their household. In addition to treating their immediate families, many become the local doctor in a community after receiving any sort of medical or nursing training, which raises the impact in the community to more than 50 people, said Frye.
Thus far, the program has graduated about 500 women, he added.
One nurse added, "In cases of emergency, it's [important] for us to have the experience and the knowledge to help out people in need."
"It will take a while for their health system to take off, but to empower women in Iraq [with the opportunity to gain knowledge] is definitely a step forward in a self-sustaining government and a modern culture," said Bautiste.
Many of these women have received no accolades, so graduating from the Preparatory Iraqi Nursing Course may be one of the happiest days of their lives, said Frye.
"It's not just to teach women how to take care of their health, but it's an empowerment program. It's a job-providing program," said Frye.
As U.S. forces draw down bases and force structure as part of the Security Agreement with Iraq, Frye wants to see continued future successes by ensuring as many Iraqis as possible receive the training.
"With the drawdown approaching, we're trying to do as much training as possible because nobody can take their training away from them," said Frye.
Provincial Reconstruction Teams and U.S. Agency of International Development officials say they will continue to work with Iraqi physicians to maintain these programs as well as encourage enduring training.
In 2006, Iraq was too unstable and unsafe for a nursing program to be a real success, said Frye. Today, the time has come for nursing to move forward.
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2010 12:03 |
| Story ID: | 49593 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 286 |
| Downloads: | 215 |
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