The visit was part of the joint medical civil-military operation between the Wasit Director General of Health and the 41st Fires Brigade, designed to restore the medical capacity in Wasit and bring medical care up to the regional health care standard.
Lt. Col. Sheila Hodgson, 945th Forward Surgical Team, ventured outside FOB Delta for the first time since her team took over for the 848th FST in March.
“I think it was a great experience,” said Hodgson, a resident of San Francisco. “I was just really amazed by the doctors there. They are working with so little but they are still doing what they can to help the people.”
Hodgson was joined on this trip by Col. Carlos Penaloza, flight surgeon for 1-150th Assault Helicopter Battalion, who visited a local hospital for the first time. They met with the Karama doctors and discussed some of the hospital’s challenges before visiting with patients.
The lack of medical training materials was one of the issues discussed during the meeting and Hodgson said if she had known this was a problem, she would have brought some from home.
“We have so much of that laying around back in the States,” said Hodgson. “So that’s what I plan to do, just contact my colleagues back in the states and see if they can send me a box of DVDs and electronic materials.”
The lack of educational materials wasn’t the only thing that Hodgson noticed as she toured the hospital and visited with patients.
“It just seems that their medical attention on the floor is pretty limited,” said Hodgson.
“Basically, the care they were getting was provided by their family members, so they really need to build up their infrastructure; nursing, nurses’ aids and even just basic equipment.”
Hodgson said the best part of her first trip to the hospital was talking to a female pathologist who works at Karama hospital with her husband.
“You could tell she was just very dedicated, very passionate about her work and I’m sure what she has to work with is very limited, but she really inspired me,” said Hodgson. “Hopefully we can get to go out on more missions and bring out more supplies and do what we can while we’re here.”
