Impromptu clinic attracts helps sick Iraqis

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Cynthia Brewster, a combat medic from Birmingham, Ala., assigned to Company C, 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, asks an Iraqi woman about her medical history using the help of an interpreter during a free clinic March 29 in Al Nur, Iraq. The woman was previously screened by Iraq Army medics.  

03.31.2007

Courtesy Story

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division

By Spc. Sean Hanson
1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs

AL NUR, Iraq - Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers took another stride toward earning the trust of the Iraqi people through humanitarian service March 29 here.

After Soldiers from B Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment arrived to secure the schoolhouse designated as the clinic's site, medics from 1-37 FA, 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division; and 82nd Airborne Division assisted Iraq Army medics in providing more than 100 citizens care for basic medical problems.

Iraq Army Soldiers screened scores of patients, completing a worksheet that delineating a patient's problems and blood pressure, before American medics and doctors provided a thorough diagnosis and care plan.

Medics said this clinic is just another way the U.S. Army is empowering Iraq's security forces and civilians to take responsibility for the care of the Iraqi people.

"The way I see it, it encourages them (that) we're confident in their abilities as Army Medics," said Staff Sgt. Rosalio Quintanilla III, a senior medic from Fresno, Calif.

"It's good for our relationship with (the people) because when they see us, we're doing cordon and searches. We're kicking in doors. This is our chance to come back to their neighborhood and give something back," said Spc. Bradley Green of Madison, Wis., who spent the day distributing medications donated for the operation by a local sheik.

Family after family - mostly women experiencing the kind of joint pain that comes standard with old age and sick children - arrived at the unannounced clinic to receive care as the medics treated everything from a teenager's acne to a 15-year-old with a growth-hormone deficiency that left her with the stature of a girl half her age.

Patients with common complaints received medication and instructions to alleviate the pain on-site while those with more rare conditions, such as the latter, were referred to the Iraq National Assistance Program, which offers Iraq citizens medical solutions and surgeries to correct long-term disorders.

The medics agreed, the greatest satisfaction for them was the impact they were having on the community.

"The fact that you just come out and help people who are unfortunate" was enough for Sgt. Cynthia Brewster of Birmingham, Ala., a medic from 115th Brigade Support Bn. "You get to interact with the culture."

• Date Taken: 03.31.2007
• Date Posted: 04.02.2007 12:06
• Story ID: 9718