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I have been married for 30 years and have two grown sons. Like many senior
people in the service, my home is where my family is, which happens to be San
Antonio, Texas, at this time.
Here in Iraq, we have been changing over to the new replacement hospital, the
31st CSH out of El Paso. Today we changed out 250 personnel without any break
in service to our patients. Our time here is rapidly coming to an end.
Since we were filmed, we have seen in excess of 15,000 patients and hopefully
effected many lives positively. Our youngest patient was a two-month-old
premature infant, and our oldest, I believe, was an 85-year-old Iraqi woman.
Both survived. Many people have died here, but many were saved as
well—both instances equally profound in their impact on all of us.
We have cared for hundreds of Iraqis, and they now comprise about one-third of
our patient census from day to day. They are children, Enemy Prisoners of War,
and civilians of all varieties. (We have taken care of people from 27 different
countries.) Their care has been of the highest quality possible in this area.
We have also performed $250,000 worth of renovations and improvements in the
Balad General Hospital. It's now able to hospitalize 150 patients, up from
about 100, because we provided air conditioners and heaters in each patient
area. We supplied operating-room equipment for the orthopedic surgeon,
washers/dryers for the nursery, and an endoscope for the gastroenterologist. We
have also given the physicians computers so they can continue their education
and communicate via the Internet. Our most important contribution to the
hospital was eight incubators and four infant warmer-resuscitators. The infant
mortality is sure to decrease because of these improvements.
The high point is the privilege of taking care of my fellow soldiers and
working with some of the most talented physicians and nurses our country has to
offer. Sharing their hardships and witnessing their successes with patients
every day has been a pleasure. The low point is seeing our dead respectfully
sent back home to their families.
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