Medics, volunteers help servicemembers recover for duty

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Medics, volunteers help servicemembers recover
for duty
The goal is to treat the patients and rapidly
return them to duty without sending them out of
the deployed theater. Maj. Treesa Salter
Story by Tech. Sgt. Shad Eidson/Photo by Staff
Sgt. Joshua Garcia SOUTHWEST ASIA -- The
379th Expeditionary Medical Group nurses and
technicians join forces with base volunteers to
help sick and injured servicemembers fully
recover and get back in the fight. 
to duty without sending them out of the deployed
theater. Most patients are able to be
returned to duty within 30 days, the major said.
If the condition requires more extensive
treatment, they will be air evacuated to
The In-Theater Care Program here was
established to treat patients with
non-debilitating injuries, non-urgent surgical
needs or illnesses so the servicemembers can
return to their forward operating bases and join
their fellow Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors or
Marines.  The In-Theater Care Program
helps to decompress downrange medical facilities
by treating non-urgent surgical and medical cases
including occasional minor battle-injuries, said
Maj. Treesa Salter, ITCP director. The goal is
to treat the patients and rapidly return them
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, or
back to the U.S. for enhanced treatment. Patients
in the program are generally not severely injured
but some may have experienced direct injuries in
battle.  Volunteers sponsor many daily
activities to engage patients in pre- and
post-operative phases of recovery, the major
said. Since January, the ITCP has helped
around 35 outpatients per month with an average
stay of 21 days per patient.
Staff Sgt. Randall Blair, a K-9 Handler with the
379th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron,
briefs Army Staff Sgt. Kaviraz German, Fort War
Horse, Iraq, on his Military Working Dog, Midas.