ISAF doctors provide care to children

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

07.20.2010

Courtesy Story

ISAF Joint Command

By U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Steven Williams

KABUL, Afghanistan - As medical evacuation helicopters are inbound to the Camp Bastion Hospital, the staff scrambles to ensure enough medical personnel are available. For these passengers, they must also prepare special kits - the pediatric kits.

On this day, six children ages 6 to 11 are brought into the emergency room with burns covering 20 to 70 percent of their bodies.

Two are sent to Kandahar Air Field for specialized care, two are treated in the intensive care unit, and two are placed in "expectant" care - where nurses try to keep them comfortable before they pass away.

Situations like this are not rare at Camp Bastion Hospital. The hospital cares for scores of children every week, suffering severe trauma such as head injuries, burns and gunshot wounds. As interviews for this story were being conducted, nurses said approximately 50 percent of the patients in the intensive care unit were children.

"I think our staff is quite well-versed in that now," said Royal Air Force Sarah Charters, squadron leader, the officer in charge of the emergency room at the hospital. "Before we came out here, some members of staff had some anxieties about looking after children."

"But we've got two pediatrics specialist nurses who are based in the hospital and they've done a lot of training and mentoring with our staff," Charters continued. "I mean, most of our staff are used to looking after sick children, but not with the same frequency and intensity as we've seen out here."

The coalition doctors hope the children truly understand what they're trying to do for them.

"We don't know what a lot of Afghans feel about us," said Lt. Cmdr. Cheryl Cottrell, another critical care ICU staff nurse. "And when they come through our door, I think it's part of our culture to be a good host in this hospital and show them we are very decent people and we give them as much care as we would give to a U.S. soldier or a U.K. soldier. It's my hope that they feel that we are attentive to their needs and that we are caring for them the best way we know how."

Many Afghans understand if they bring their injured children or family members to the nearest coalition forces, they will receive emergency medical attention.

"They know if they get to the closest point where there are coalition troops that a corpsman will look at them," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jose Belen, Navy hospital corpsman, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward). "The corpsman will then make a decision as to whether or not the injuries are serious enough for the casualty to be evacuated."

The care doesn't stop at Bastion. There is a unique team at the hospital responsible for getting patients to follow-on care at other hospitals. The Critical Care Air Support Team is a five-person Royal Air Force team capable of any level of care on aircraft.

"We have an excellent standard of care with the most modern intensive care technology," said RAF Squadron Leader Lucy Ryder, CCAST flight nurse medical officer. "We can activate and be in the air in an hour."

The CCAST team treats Afghan civilians, Afghan National Security Forces and ISAF service members, along with pediatric patients. Afghan patients are taken to the Afghan National Army's Herat Regional Hospital, Kandahar Regional Military Medical Center, or the civilian-run Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah.

The Bastion Hospital staff don't hear much after the patients leave their doors for follow-on care and many wonder if they made a difference.

"I always wonder about that feedback," said Lt. Cmdr. Tymesia Cortez, a critical care ICU staff nurse. "Has their perception of us changed? Did they see how much we give of ourselves to care for them?

I hope that they think we're better than what they may have heard."

A 9-year-old boy with burns on 32 percent of his body thought so.

"We called the interpreter," explained Cottrell, "just to let the child know they were going to put him on the litter and he was going to fly to this other hospital, and he did not want to go. He was a little upset. He wanted to stay here."

The staff gave the boy typical Bastion going away gifts - some extra clothes, stuffed animals and other little donated to the hospital to share with the children.

The nurses say it's difficult to see the number of children flowing through the ICU with the severity of wounds they suffer. Many, like Cortez and Cottrell, are parents and are empathetic for a child in pain. However, their passion for helping the children and ailing Afghan people thrives because of patients like the 9-year-old boy who did not want to leave.

"He feels comfortable here," said Cottrell. "He feels safe here."

• Date Taken: 07.20.2010
• Date Posted: 07.20.2010 01:00
• Story ID: 53077
• Location: KABUL, AF