Role 3 MMU provides best care to all patients [Military Hospital at Kandahar Air Field]

The Maple Leaf (DND/Canadian Forces) ^ | July 2007 | Kristina Davis

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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD — In just under an hour, they have enough blood—and it is still warm.

It’s a walking blood bank at the Canadian-led Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (MMU). And while it doesn’t happen often, it does happen. They put out the call and quickly have a line of pre-screened donors snaking out the door. After another screening process to ensure their blood still meets all the requirements, their blood is drawn.

Even after a few days, donors are still trickling in.

Health Care Administrator Captain Lisa Baspaly says the hospital provides the best in medical care to all its patients—whether they are Canadian, coalition or local soldiers. They also treat Afghan nationals wounded during operations—teens, children—but never adult women. Capt Baspaly says it simply would not happen. They have, however, treated young girls whose fathers have granted permission.

Complete with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and an operating and recovery room, the hospital is more than well-equipped. They even have their own blood lab and both an X-ray machine and a CT-scanner.

Once patients are stable, they are cared for on the ward. On average, depending upon the severity of their injuries, patients remain there for about a week. They have had patients, one in particular, who was with them for months.

At sick call, in an adjacent building, doctors see about 30 to 40 people a day. From rolled ankles, to cuts, colds and gastro infections, they see it all. There, too, a multi-national team treats a variety of patients.

And while they’re in the business of nursing patients back to health, they’re also in the business of trying to prevent illness. To that end, there’s an almost obsessive-compulsive hand washing policy. There has to be. In fact, Capt Baspaly says there’s already been gastro outbreaks, which can easily spread.

They also treat a variety of chronic diseases, like hypertension, that one would not normally expect to see in an environment of healthy soldiers.

She says it’s often hard because they can’t treat civilians off the street. And outside the wire, it’s obvious the need is more than real. She says they also struggle with the knowledge that when they have to amputate the limb of an Afghan soldier or civilian, their lives will never, ever be the same. While a life in Canada without a limb can be challenging, in Afghanistan it’s even more so. “They are grateful for the care they receive,” she says. “But they are not looking forward to the rest of their life without their limb.”

She says, too, when Afghan nationals are transferred to area hospitals, the level of care they receive can differ significantly. But, she adds, “They’ve come a long way.”

While Afghan patients are treated at the Role 3 MMU, they’re allowed visitors. The patient must identify a photo of the visitor and they must agree to a search. She says the staff encourages the visits because it aids in the healing process. Children, says Capt Baspaly, especially need their parents or guardian close-by. To that end, they’ve paid for taxi rides for relatives to travel to the hospital. “Parents,” she explains, “could be day labourers and the father might not have enough money to make the trip.”

One little boy in particular was hospitalized with no relative or guardian near-by. His father simply could not afford to travel back and forth to visit his son. They also didn’t know where the father lived or how to contact him. But they did have a photo of the boy and his father taken at the hospital. Capt Baspaly says they contacted troop commanders and asked them to pass messages in the local area looking for the dad. And while it was a bit like playing telephone as a kid, it worked. “We could not do it without them,” she says.

She says that example is a reminder that foreign soldiers are wanted in Afghanistan and that Canadians truly want to help—“everyone” was actively looking for this young boy’s father.

And, she says, no matter who is admitted to the hospital—even detainees under guard—they are given the best care available. Plus, if patients make it to the hospital, their prognosis is good. There’s a faith in the facility among soldiers.

She’s no Pollyanna, though. Some of the injuries are simply too severe. “Those people were not coming back,” she says. The vast majority, though, “if they make it to this facility, they will leave alive.”

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