Multi-National Division – Center Release

FOB HUNTER — U.S. Army medical experts recently visited a small clinic in southeastern Iraq to provide medical assistance to the citizens there.

Local Iraqis lined up in single file near the clinic’s perimeter fence eagerly awaiting basic examinations and medical advice from combat medics and a physician.

“Army medical personnel help is very good for us,” said Amle Jaffer, one of the Iraqi nurses at the clinic. “We generally have only Aspirin, water and basic medicines. Small clinics need lots of things that we don’t always have.”

The medical personnel taught the clinic’s nurses how to maximize the use of their medicines and treatments more than they were able to provide previously. Despite the village’s limited medical inventory, the Iraqi nurses learned when to use certain medicines and the best way to apply them. 

“These people don’t have a lot,” said Capt. Julie Cyr, a medical planner who assisted during the mission. “It was a heartfelt deed because they need our help.”

The medical advice varied from explaining to parents why their children won’t sleep well at night to dealing with their ear and throat bacterial infections. Members of the squadron also provided shoes and clothing to as many Iraqi children as possible during the event.