{"id":20371,"date":"2023-07-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=20371"},"modified":"2023-07-28T06:42:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T06:42:35","slug":"army-medical-corps-provides-continuity-of-care-for-248-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=20371","title":{"rendered":"Army Medical Corps provides continuity of care for 248 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Ensuring trained and ready medical forces, particularly combat trauma surgeons, is critical to support our Soldiers and other service personnel in combat. Army Medicine is using individual critical task lists, centrally managing trauma surgery personnel and assets, and building military-civilian partnerships with civilian level I trauma centers to ensure Army Medicine surgeons are getting the experience needed for battlefield surgery.
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\n Army Col. (Dr.) Pedro Lucero, assistant deputy commander for clinical services and former chief of the Pulmonary Disease Service, examines Jeannette Haygood, his patient since 2002, at San Antonio Military Medical Center, Aug. 19, 2015. \u201cHe left for another assignment several years ago and when he came back, I was there on his doorstep,\u201d Haygood recalled. \u201cI truly believe if it wasn\u2019t for Dr. Lucero \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t be here right now.\u201d
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\n Army Col. (Dr.) Douglas Soderdahl, BAMC\u2019s deputy commander for acute care, checks in with his longtime patient, Frank Samas, while Janet Schadee, urology and oncology clinical nurse, looks on in the Urology Department at San Antonio Military Medical Center, Aug. 11, 2015. Samas has rave reviews for his doctor. \u201cHe\u2019s the best doctor here,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s no lie.\u201d
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WASHINGTON \u2014 Only 43 days separate the creations of the Continental Army that was formed by the original 13 American colonies and the Army Medical Corps. That short period of time speaks to the importance the corps plays in the mission of the Army.<\/p>\n

Several current and former Medical Corps officers shared their thoughts on the corps, their careers and providing health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cMilitary medicine is invaluable to the security of this nation,\u201d said retired Maj. Gen. Jeff Clark, former chief of the Medical Corps. \u201cWe in the Medical Corps are a part of an overall team that together is able to provide world-class health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since July 27, 1775, Medical Corps officers, previously referred to as surgeons, have provided a continuity of care to veterans, military members and their families.<\/p>\n

Today, more than 4,000 physicians form a corps of 40 specialties in three main areas: operational, clinical and research medicine. These Soldiers do everything from surgery to vaccine research to delivering babies.<\/p>\n

Helping service members bring new life into the world is where Lt. Col. Haroon Samar, family physician, got his start.<\/p>\n

As a resident at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center on Fort Cavazos, he helped a young military family during the pregnancy of their first child. The couple trusted him so much they asked him again to help deliver their second son a year later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really an important time for me to be truly appreciative of the opportunity to be a part of such big moments in their lives,\u201d he said. \u201cI think those moments left an impression on me because I realized just how much trust these young families and these Soldiers put in me. I did my best to learn and grow from that and be as good a doctor as I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Army physicians go through years of medical school and training to take care of patients. The amount of work can be demanding, but can also fuel their passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved everything about it,\u201d said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Polfer of her time on surgery rotation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. \u201cThe long hours didn\u2019t bother me because I enjoyed everything I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medical Corps officers enter service at the rank of captain and can take many paths in their careers. They can stay in a specialty field or bounce around between different areas.<\/p>\n

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\n An Army physician looks after a patient.
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\n WATERTOWN, N.Y. \u2013 Capt. Heather Irobunda (left), an obstetrics physician with the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity, Fort Drum, N.Y., works with a labor and delivery nurse from the Samaritan Medical Center to control the bleeding of a simulated patient during an emergency preparedness training scenario in Watertown, N.Y. June 7. Obstetrics and gynecology health care professionals from Fort Drum work side by side with their civilian counterparts at Samaritan to provide pregnancy, labor and delivery care to Fort Drum service members and their families.
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\n Maj. Bonnie Jordan, a physician assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, examines her patient, Arthur Wasson, on Nov. 28. Jordan was recently awarded the Military Health System’s Female Physician Leadership Award for her dedication and work to sick and injured Soldiers of the Fort Carson Warrior Transition Battalion. Jordan renovated several processes WTB Soldiers participate in to help them heal or transition to civilian life, as well as her guidance to their family members and her dedication to mentoring fellow physicians.
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Clinical medicine provides care on military installations. Operational medicine supports Soldiers in the field, while academic and research medicine focuses on education, training and research at Army medical centers and laboratories.<\/p>\n

This flexibility to pursue different avenues allows Medical Corps officers to gain valuable experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is what the Army continues to do and probably does better than any other job, is to just enrich you with job opportunities for growth development and leadership,\u201d Samar said.<\/p>\n

Medical Corps officers have made significant impacts on health care throughout history.<\/p>\n

Maj. Jonathan Letterman started the first Ambulance Corps to help wounded Soldiers on the battlefield during the Civil War. Maj. Walter Reed led experiments in the early 1900s that discovered the link between mosquitos and yellow fever. During WWI and WWII, Maj. Gen. Norman T. Kirk organized new treatments for amputees.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, retired Lt. Gen. James Peake led a study to improve battlefield survivability. The study showed most patients were dying before they reached a hospital from either blood loss or compromised airways.<\/p>\n

The study led to increased general training and the creation of the Combat Lifesaver Course where Soldiers learn how to apply tourniquets and insert a common airway.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers who receive CLS training are better equipped to provide critical medical care when it\u2019s needed,\u201d said retired Maj. Gen. George Weightman, former chief of the Medical Corps Branch. \u201cCommanders can rest assured that their troops are prepared for any situation that arises.\u201d<\/p>\n

While advances in medicine and ways to treat patients continue to evolve, the basic function of the Medical Corps remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe privilege of serving two professions simultaneously \u2014 arms and medicine \u2014 being patient-focused, knowing that\u2019s why we are important to the team, does not change even though the world around us changes and what the Army is asked to do changes,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI think those fundamentals are enduring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Army Medical Department consists of the Medical Corps, Medical Service Corps, Medical Specialist Corps, Veterinary Corps, Army Nurse Corps, Army Dental Corps and the Civilian Corps.<\/p>\n

These groups, along with Enlisted Medical Corps, work together as a team to deliver care to patients around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to Army Medicine because the Army gave me a chance to pursue a dream to be a doctor,\u201d Samar said. \u201cI\u2019ve stayed for as long as I have because I got the chance to a part of a wonderful team. That has kept me in this long and I\u2019ll continue serving because the Army continues to surround me with awesome people.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED LINKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Medical Service Corps: 106 years of diverse health service<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Medical Service Corps chief\u2019s life of service brings joy, passion<\/a><\/p>\n

From farm to hospital: Former chief of US Army Nurse Corps driven by life’s challenges<\/a><\/p>\n

Army Medical Department, Army Medical Corps celebrate 237 years of faithful service<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Ensuring trained and ready medical forces, particularly combat trauma surgeons, is critical to support our Soldiers and other service personnel in combat. Army Medicine is using individual critical task lists, centrally managing trauma surgery personnel and assets, and building military-civilian partnerships with civilian level I trauma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20373,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20380,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20371\/revisions\/20380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}