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By 1LT John F. Lamm
 ust billowed up from the helicopter's downdraft as two
men with a stretcher hustled across the blacktop toward a row of large wooden
structures. They carried a wounded Old Reliable.
He had been hit just minutes before while moving in the sweaty,
muddy atmosphere of a Delta rice paddy. Now he was being taken into a clean,
air-conditioned, pre-operating room where an internist, a specialist in internal
medicine, would examine his wounds.
He would soon be on the road to recovery thanks to Dong Tam's
Third Surgical Hospital, the first stop for many wounded men of the 9th Division.
They are taken from the helicopter to the pre-operating room, then examined
by a specialist in the type of wound they have received. In some cases, the
problem can be remedied on the spot and the patient taken directly to a
recuperating room.
If a head wound is involved, the wounded man may not even go
off the chopper before a doctor meets the "dustoff" on the pad. If the wound
is serious enough, the chopper will take the patient directly to the 24th
Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh, which specializes in head wounds.
After the patient has been examined and if he needs further
emergency work, he may be taken to the X-ray room or, if X-rays are not needed,
directly to the operating room.
There he could be operated on by any of four general surgeons,
an internist, an orthopedic surgeon, who works on feet, or a thoracic surgeon,
who specializes in chest wounds.
If the patient needs close, specialized post-operative care,
he is taken to the intensive care ward.
"Because we are a surgical hospital, we do a great deal of intensive
care work," said First |
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Karraker
An Inflated Hospital Means
Life To Wounded Soldiers
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Lieutenant Beverly Nelson, 22, Detroit Lakes, Minn. "In come cases
such as when a patient is in a respirator to make him breathe properly, he
depends entirely on the nurses in the ward for everything and needs a lot
of time and attention."
If the surgery is not critical and the wound can be completely
closed, the patient is usually taken to one of the recuperation wards.
Most patients spend an average of only four to five days in
the 3d Surg ward, before being taken to one of the five major field hospitals
for recuperation. These hospitals are the 93d and 24th Evacuation Hospitals
at Long Binh, the 36th Evacuation Hospital at Vung Tau, the 3d Field Hospital
at Saigon and the 29th Evacuation Hospital at Binh Thuy.
Since each of the hospitals has the same capabilities, the hospital
they are sent to depends on the number of patients in each, as the 68th Medical
Group, which has control over all the hospitals, tries to keep the same number
of patients in each hospital. All head wounds and wounded Viet Cong are taken
to the 24th Evacuation Hospital. |
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