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A joint team Chadian and U.S. military medical professionals work together during a surgery April 14 at the Military Teaching Hospital in N’Djamena, Chad. They performed a procedure on a Chadian soldier who sustained a gunshot wound that fractured his right femur and left tibia. The U.S. and Chadian medical teams are working together as part of a joint exercise called Medical Readiness and Training Exercise known as MEDRETE 15-3. The exercise is a joint effort between the Chadian government, U.S. Army Africa, the Army Reserve Medical Command and the 7th Civil Support Command. MEDRETE 15-3 serves as an opportunity for U.S. and Chadian forces to hone and strengthen their life saving skills as well as reinforce the partnership between both countries. (U.S. Army Africa photo by Staff Sgt. Andrea Merritt)

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Photo by: Staff Sgt. Andrea Merritt  

More than a dozen Soldiers assigned to the Army Reserve Medical Command and 7th Civil Support Command participated in Medical Readiness and Training Exercise 15-3, in N’Djamena, Chad, April 13-24 at the Hospital Militaire D’Instruction, or Military Teaching Hospital.

An Army Reserve medical team came to Chad in support of U.S. Army Africa to enhance the readiness of U.S. Army medical professionals, reinforce cooperation between U.S. and Chadian Defense Forces, and strengthen the capacity of the Chadian Health Services to perform surgical and trauma response operations.

“The goal of this exercise was to provide advanced trauma care for Chadian soldiers, their families and the citizens that utilize this hospital,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Peter Corey, the deputy commanding general of USARAF.

During the two-week exercise, the U.S. military medical professionals, alongside their Chadian counterparts, performed 23 surgeries, triaged 19 emergency room patients, conducted 43 surgical consultations and saw nearly 400 patients.

While the previous year’s MEDRETE focused on teaching tactical combat casualty care and advanced trauma life support skills, this year’s exercise built upon that training and challenged the joint medical team to provide quality surgical and trauma care to patients in a clinical setting.

“Last year’s training helped the Chadian Army with handling injuries on the battlefield. The basic skills helped them save lives in the war theater,” said Chadian Army Commandant Abdramande Ahmat Ali, a physician with HMI. “Last year the exercise was a training one and this year is more practical. In my opinion, it works very well.”

By working side-by-side at the Chadian hospital, both the Chadian and U.S. military medical providers were able to learn from one another and enhance their skill sets.

The U.S. team worked at a host nation hospital using the resources and equipment available at the facility. It was an experience that represented challenges the team does not routinely encounter in the U.S..

“Working as a critical care nurse in an intensive care unit, I found that I rely heavily on monitors to assess patients, and here you don’t have all of that equipment,” said Maj. DeLaurie Mize, a critical care nurse with the 4005th U.S. Army Hospital in Lubbock, Texas. “Being here has brought me back to the core of medicine, using your senses – sight, touch, sound – to monitor patients.”

Similarly, the Chadian team gained confidence in performing more complex procedures using the equipment they already have.

One case presented to the joint team was a woman with a large goiter, an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland, on her neck. Normally, the HMI staff would have referred her to another facility, but since there was an ear, nose and throat surgeon on the U.S. team to lend his expertise, they were able to successfully remove the mass.

“She spent many years with that goiter and didn’t know where to go. The presence of the specialist was a great benefit,” Ali said. “The exercise benefitted the Chadians, the Americans, and the public as well.”

Near the end of the exercise, Soldiers from the 7th CSC secured funding to purchase medical consumables such as latex gloves, surgical gowns and medications for the hospital as a parting gift.

Not only was the exercise successful in strengthening the capabilities of the Chadian and U.S. medical teams, but it also forged a strong bond between the two groups of military medical professionals, who hope to work together again in the future.

“I would absolutely try to come back if I could. We got such a nice welcoming from the Chadians we’ve been working alongside,” said U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Kris Neely, an operating rom specialist with the 4005th USAH. “They’ve been very friendly and if I had the opportunity I would come back any time.”