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By Senior Airman George Cloutier
American Forces Network Afghanistan
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan -- There's a small entry control point at Bagram Air Field big enough only for one person to go through at a time. Walk through it going outside and pass a small holding area on the other side and you'll find a chain link corridor that follows the perimeter until it ends a few hundred meters from a small Afghan community. From this small community and ones like it across Afghanistan, people come from hundreds of miles for what's on the other side.
For some, it's the opportunity to see for the first time in 10 years. For others, perhaps an artificial limb will allow them to walk again after losing a leg to a land mine. Regardless of what they come for and where they come from, they all come for the same primary reason -- because there's nowhere else to go.
For those who aren't in such urgent need, the place on the other side of the wall is referred to as the Egyptian Field Hospital. A dusty sign by the main drive on BAF is the only thing most see of it. For those who live in Camp Blackjack, they see the candy striped gate. But the gravity of what takes place inside is really only known to those who work inside.
There are other reasons Afghans come to the field hospital beside it being the only place to go for many. It's free, for one. But there's also something else about it that strikes home with the people who come looking for care deeper than what's apparent on the surface.
Col. Ahmed Ashry has a very good idea of what that something else is, as well as the practical side of benefits his and his co-workers' services provide. He's the chief of doctors at the field hospital and holds a doctorate in ophthalmology, which is a branch of medicine that deals with visuals pathways. When he's not coming up with new ways to make the hospital better, he's usually busy in surgery fixing someone's eyes, which is another of his specialties.
Ashry, like many of his co-workers, comes from Cairo, Egypt, where he works as a doctor. He's been deployed here since early June, along with much of his staff.
Since he came to Bagram, he's been on a complex mission that he started off by taking some practical steps and then doing something a little more extreme.
"When I came here, I told the commander I wanted to change everything," the colonel said.
The first thing the colonel did is develop a system for tracking patients, based on the system used at the American hospital on BAF. The second was to expand the hospital from 20 patient beds to 30, as well as constructing a new intensive care unit and operating room.
The colonel said the opening of the ICU and operating room was good timing, because the second day after opening the hospital saw three trauma patients. The most extreme case was a mine explosion victim who had lost both legs above the knee. The doctor said by the time they received the patient, he had lost so much blood he wasn't bleeding anymore and he didn't expect him to live. His blood pressure was 40/20.
Normal human blood pressure is about 120/80. He lived though, thanks to the new operating room and ICU and a large blood supply from the American hospital.
As if the new improvements weren't enough, the colonel's next idea was a little more radical. Instead of seeing only the 100 or so patients they were seeing every day, the colonel decided to attempt to see every patient that came for one week.
"Why should we take only 100 patients?" the colonel said. "We should take all the patients. So I did an experiment; one week, we took all of the patients."
On the first day of the new policy, the colonel said they saw 520 patients. At first, the American hospital did not believe there was any way possible they could have seen that many patients in one day until some of their leadership came and saw the vast numbers who showed up the following morning.
The colonel said he can sleep easier now knowing that he's not turning anyone away. After all, like the colonel said, if he doesn't do it, nobody's going to.
"You have to do it, you have to do everything here," he said. "You can't tell the patient, 'sorry, I can't do it.' I can sleep at night with a good conscious because I don't say 'no' to the patients."
As of late, the colonel has turned his attention to another problem. It's not a physical disease that's going to be healed overnight, or even in a few weeks, but something that runs deep into the mind of the people who come to the Egyptian hospital – cultural and religious considerations.
The colonel said one of the things that gives the Egyptians an advantage working in Afghanistan is that they share a similar culture and religion with the Afghan people. This makes it easier for people to come to them for medical help, where they may not come to Americans. The colonel said this stigmatism is due to a misunderstanding the Afghani people have with Americans and the other forces who have been here in the past with less-than-friendly intentions.
"Some people don't have the idea that the Americans have come to give freedom to them," the colonel said. "When I speak to them I ask, 'ok, if you are correct, why did the Americans set up a hospital for you?' We came here with the permission of the Americans and they gave us equipment and drugs."
To clear up this misunderstanding, the colonel decided to try a new idea. He asked for volunteers from the American hospital to come once a week, not to actually see patients, but just to do simple things like hand out food and water. It may not seem like much; however, the colonel said that before long he began seeing a change in the attitude of the Afghan patients toward the Americans.
"Day by day, the Afghanis begin to think, these are the Americans," the colonel said. "Every day, they come here to give me food and water, they give me help and they speak to me."
The colonel said since Americans started coming to the Egyptian hospital, patients have begun to specifically ask to be seen by American caregivers. In general, the patients are now willing to receive treatment from Americans, where before they would refuse.
The colonel and much of his staff still have four more months on their rotation. In the following months, he has a lot of ideas to further improve the hospital, such as new endoscopy department, dialysis machine, and an incubator for newborns.
The colonel said one idea that will be around for much longer than any of these and have a much more far reaching impact is a new mentoring program the hospital is starting Oct. 1, 2008. It will give Afghani doctors a chance to practice their skills and learn from Egyptian and American doctors.
"This hospital will not stay here forever, not the American or the Egyptian, and one day it will belong to the Afghanis," the colonel said. "I suggest to every Afghani doctor here, please come. Don't waste a moment. Do everything and learn everything, because one day we will leave and this will be an Afghani hospital."
| Date Taken: | 10.06.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 10.06.2008 01:52 |
| Story ID: | 24550 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 403 |
| Downloads: | 397 |
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