Yesterday I had the honor of being the guest speaker at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the MRI at Bagram Airfield. We took delivery of our mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine just 10 days ago after a four-month-long procurement and delivery process. I don't know of any hospital that could procure and install MRI capability within that short a time period, much less accomplishing that in a War Zone.
We received the MRI trailer at about 4 a.m. on a Thursday and it is ready for the first patient today, complete with a civilian technician to operate and maintain it.
Our shiny new MRI looks a little out of place parked next to our dusty, sand colored hospital, but it will provide advanced diagnostic capability close to our warriors' points of injury.
The primary purpose of the MRI is for diagnosis and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) here in theatre. The protective vehicles used here in Afghanistan protect our service members' bodies from mechanical injury much better than the HUMVEES used in the past. But service members often get bounced around and injured inside the vehicles when they hit Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The MRI will better determine the extent of TBI experienced by our warriors closer to the time of injury and possibly help guide future clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of TBI.
I am acting Commander of the Medical Task Force for two more weeks because the Commander is on R&R leave in the States. As such I had the honor of hosting the MRI Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Armed Forces Network (AFN) news and the Air Force public affairs office attended the ceremony to my surprise so perhaps this was also my 15 minutes of fame.
The ceremony went off flawlessly. It is a privilege to take part in providing world class healthcare to America's finest over here. As much as I can't wait to get home and back to my normal life, I couldn't ask for a more rewarding combat experience.
