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Medics fill care void in Iraq towns

May-20-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes

SKHARTIAT, Iraq — Wish as he might, Capt. Jon Christensen can’t cure them all. But if nothing else, he can help alleviate their discomfort.

Time and again, the 36-year-old physician’s assistant and his crew of medics from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division visit impoverished towns and villages that pepper Ninevah Province to bring medical supplies and knowledge that, if even for a short time, dissolve the aches of arthritis, burden of birth defects, hurt of heart disease.

“The thing we’re doing is trying to win the hearts and minds,” said Staff Sgt. Chuck Lanham, 43. “I know people don’t like that phrase anymore, but there’s no simpler way to describe it.”

Medics save lives, not take them, they said. Even soldier medics.

And so early Wednesday morning, the crew hopped into their specially configured Stryker armored vehicle and set out for a more than two-hour drive to Skhartiat to visit eight patients in a village of around 200 residents. [...]

Iraqi doctors aren’t trusted by villagers, Christensen said. They are thought to give medication just for the sake of dispensing medication. But it’s not always the doctors’ fault.

A handful of Skhartiat’s residents, for example, can’t read, which makes it hard to follow a prescription. Some can’t afford medical bills. Others have no vehicle to get to the larger towns and cities.

So they suffer. They ache. They cough. They battle diarrhea. They limp. They go blind. They compensate.

And in some places, they wait for the Americans.


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