New AF Hospital Complex Opens at Anaconda

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Orthopedic surgeon Lt. Col. Eric Nelson keeps all of the foreign objects he removes from soldiers – shrapnel, nails, unexploded rounds, and the occasional door hinge – in a bucket by his computer at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad.


New AF Hospital Complex Opens at Anaconda
BALAD, Iraq — Cool, temperature-regulated air sweeps down the white, well-lit hallway. It circulates past the CT scanner and in the spacious operating room where surgeons maneuver around a U.S. soldier who just came in with a gunshot wound.

This ballet of activity is a far cry from the dusty, dirty “M*A*S*H” days of two months ago, said Col. Patrick Storms, commander of the Air Force Theater Hospital at Logistics Support Area Anaconda.

“Before, we were butt to butt in tents, sweating in the 110-degree heat,” Storms said. “We had to put beds diagonally on concrete floors under low ceilings. It was a dingy place.”

The hospital moved from a series of 12-by-12-foot tents into a 63,105-square-foot modern structure two months ago. The new complex also includes a separate outpatient clinic and mental health center.

The new digs are so much like an American medical center that you may forget you’re in Iraq — if not for the “incoming” sirens indicating indirect fire attacks.

The steady stream of gunshot wounds and victims of mortar and roadside bombs also serve as reminders, Storms said.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,152532,00.html