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Navy Surgeon General Attends San Diego Trauma Care Symposium
Story Number: NNS041012-08
Release Date: 10/12/2004 12:42:00 PM
By Journalist 2nd Class Adrian Melendez, Naval Medicine Public Affairs
SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Donald Arthur addressed staff and attendees of the trauma symposium at Naval Medical Center San Diego Sept. 23.
During Arthur’s speech, he laid out his priorities for Navy Medicine and talked about training, battlefield technology and how to better serve injured troops.
“I think one of the benefits of the military system is that many of our health care providers - our nurses, our corpsmen and our doctors — have been over in the theater, either on the ground or on the hospital ship," said Arthur. "They understand where these Marines and Sailors are coming from. They understand these Marines and Sailors are still in combat even though they are in our wards. They are still experiencing, thinking about and reliving some of their experiences. It’s helpful that our staff understands that.”
Arthur pointed out that medical personnel not only treat physical injuries, they also treat emotional wounds.
“About 15 percent of everybody in theater suffers from some kind of combat stress," Arthur said. "We treat the minds of the wounded and the families, instead of just injuries."
Arthur also addressed the possibility of decommissioning the Navy’s two hospital ships, USNS (T-AH 20) Comfort and USNS Mercy (T-AH 19).
“We’re looking at a platform the Navy is already using and making sure we have enough medical capabilities on that ship to be able to use it for dual use,” said Arthur. “So when the Marines go ashore, we still have a large medical capability to be able to take casualties back. I think that’s were we’ll go in the future."
Arthur also talked about the need for more inter-service training. He said everybody needs to be trained on the same systems to create a joint delivery of DoD Health Service.
“I want to see everyone on the battlefield have the same perspective, same training, same communication and same equipment, because we’re all there for the same reason,” he said.
Another focus of the symposium was technological advances in military medicine. Advanced battle armor and blood-clotting bandages that can stop severe arterial bleeding were a couple of the most exciting inventions Arthur focused on.
“[The bandages] are a tremendous advancement in saving lives,” said Arthur. “The new body armor has been a real advantage, because it prevents those injuries in the first place.”
However, Arthur said the biggest asset in Navy Medicine is still corpsmen.
“The corpsmen who are on the field delivering care at the point of injury are saving these Marines’ and Sailors’ lives,” he said.
For related news, visit the Naval Medicine Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/mednews.
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