December 6, 2009

MEDCAP Day 1 – Feteh’ Menah

Dr. Rafi seeing the first patient! =)

We planned these Medical projects several months ago and waited for the right time for our troops to go out with us. Captain Kramer had to oversee and schedule the whole event.

This is a 6 day project where we go out to different villages each day and treat local natives. We do not have abundance of medical supplies, so we pray that we do not run out of medications in the middle of treatments. These medications were donated by SFC Trudell and 1LT Carlson from FOB Joyce. Thank you!

Today was our first day, and it was exciting. We drove about 3 hours; the roads were so rough, I threw up 5 times just on the way out there. I knew I got motion sickness easy, so I took a couple of pills before I left, but it really did not help (perhaps I did not take it early enough.) For those 3 hours on the way out, I was agonizing; however, I was much better on the way back to the base. Thank, God! =)

Kids are happy with their medications! =)

We left around 5:30 in the morning and arrived at a town called Feteh’ Menah around 9:30.

CPT Kramer had already arranged with the Afghan Border Patrol (ABP) nearby the town for us to set up a small treatment area, and ABP was very cooperative and helpful. Thanks, ABP!

CPT Kramer tried very hard for weeks to find us a medically trained FEMALE professional (U.S. or Afghan), but was not successful. Due to Afghanistan’s religious cultural background, females are seen by female doctors or female medical professionals most of the time, and male and female patients are separated at all time. It would be nearly impossible for us, Dr. Rafi and I, to see the female patients. They just would not come out to us.

From a short distance, our soldiers guarded the entrance and pulled security for us. Before they were sent in to us, Coffey (one of our proud Platoon medics) triaged villagers first; he made our job much easier! =) Thanks, Coffey and all the soldiers who helped us with this project. SFC Love’s 2nd Platoon will be going out with us for first 3 missions and a different platoon will be assigned for the last 3 days. Without their support and cooperation, we would not have been able to complete these medical projects. Thank you so much!

Dr. Rafi is listening to the kid's lung sound.

A cute little girl with a blue dress was our first patient. She came with her grandfather along with her several siblings. She was shy and almost cried when Dr. Rafi started to examine her. The stethoscope might have been too cold for her, or she just did not like the idea of a doctor. =( She had minor cold symptoms, and Dr. Rafi handed a few medications to her grandfather. One thing we were short of was the children’s medications. We expected that there would be plenty of children coming out to see us, but we were not able to secure enough medications for them.

We were right! At the end of the day, we did not see one adult female patient. They were all male adults and children.

Most of the patients were just minor sicknesses like common cold, muscle pain, sore throat, headaches, constipation, toothache, stomach ache, etc. Some had more serious conditions like tuberculosis, urinary tract infections (UTI), typhoid, hypertension, dysentery, and other complicated conditions. We gave them what we had, and suggested they visit a clinic or hospital. Some came with birth defects or some other permanent conditions, and asked us to help them. We felt bad for these people who have had to live their lives without toes, legs, vision…

Dr. Rafi is passing medication.

Instead of mom bringing the smaller children, the older sisters carried their much younger siblings on their arms for a few medications. Many of the “temporary moms” were only about 9 or 10 years old themselves. The village was located very close to where we were, but there was still some distance to walk, but these little girls carried their younger siblings who may weigh as much as half of their own weight on their arms and walked to see us. However, they looked very used to it; I did not see any of them struggling or switching from one arm to the other to ease the pain in their arms. As a father of 2 daughters, I know that even to an adult, it is pretty tiring to carry babies like this. But they looked like this was their ever day chores. In my mind, I was thinking and hoping that someday soon, I wish I could help them get some education. It is a shocking fact to find out from a study done late last year that only about 12 percent of females in this country can read and write. What about the other 88 percent? Should they be left out of the way of progress and higher learning? …

Me and my first patient! =)

I know there is lots of effort to help these poor females by many big and small organizations, and it will take many years, but I am sure they will be helped. And my heart goes out to these poor women and children. I pray that I could be used as an instrument to help them.

Dr. Rafi was the main doctor seeing these patients, and I assisted. Dr. Rafi can communicate directly with the patients in their language and was able to see so people in such a short time. We were there for about 3 hours and saw 156 patients, not including the people seen by Coffey out at the entrance.

Everyone that visited was also given FREE food prepared and distributed by 2nd Platoon. Thank you very much for your help, 2nd Platoon!!!

Donated some medication to ABP Commander.

At the end of the day, Dr. Rafi and I donated a small box of medications to the Commander of one of the Out Post (OP), CPT Nasrullah.