Even our Afghan Base is called Nightingale

By Caroline Crowe and Mark Mason, The Sun

CELEBRATED as the Lady With The Lamp for her tireless work helping injured soldiers in the Crimean War, she remains the most famous nurse in history.
And while today marks the 100th anniversary of her death, Florence Nightingale’s incredible legacy lives on.

The inspirational figure helped to transform nursing into a highly respected profession. And the school she founded in 1860 – now Florence Nightingale School Of Nursing And Midwifery at King’s College London – is today regarded as a centre of excellence for nursing education.

The Sun today meets modern day nurses who have followed in Florence Nightingales footsteps.

FLIGHT Lieutenant Vanessa, 41, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, is on her second tour in Afghanistan with Princess Mary’s RAF Nursing Service. She has also served in Iraq.

“Every day I witness something memorable – the bravery of the injured soldier, the life-saving work done by medics or the monumental effort the troops put into stretcher-bearing their injured to safety.

‘Being a nurse in the military is great’ … Vanessa Miles
Photo: Capt Leanne Christmas RE/MOD 2010

My mother and sister were nurses and I always wanted to be an emergency nurse.
I worked as a civilian nurse in the Field Hospital in Iraq and that inspired me to join the RAF in 2007.Being a nurse in the military is great. I feel really valued. We have lots of good kit and are highly respected.

I am the Officer Commanding of the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT).

The MERT flies on a Chinook helicopter from Camp Bastion, retrieves casualties from the ground and assesses and treats them during the flight back to the military hospital.

Targeted by the Taliban when flying out to casualties, we are protected by armour and the skill of the Chinook aircrew. Apache helicopters also escort and protect us.

In essence we take the emergency room to the casualty and that can make a real difference.
The influence of Florence Nightingale lives on.

Even the helicopter landing site at the hospital is known as “Nightingale”.”

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Two girls blown up by callous Taliban bomb saved by hero Brits

TWO little Afghan girls horrifically injured by a Taliban bomb have been saved by the determination and skill of a group of caring British soldiers and medics.

Three-year-old Kamila and pal Wasila, six, nearly died after accidentally triggering an improvised explosive device (IED) as they played outside their home in Musa Qala, Helmand Province.

Kamila took the brunt of the blast, suffering severe head injuries, while Wasila's stomach was ripped open by molten shrapnel causing liver damage.

Kamila's horrified father was on the scene in seconds and scooped up the girls and took them to Musa Qala District Centre, certain that coalition troops there would help.

But the injuries were so severe that they alerted a four-man British Medical Emergency Response Team, staffed by doctors and nurses, which raced to help in a Chinook chopper.

The girls were then flown to a hospital at Kandahar Airbase.

Kamila was placed in an intensive care unit where doctors feared the worst. The blast had paralysed her on her entire left side and brain damage left her unable to express emotion.

But the tender care of a British neurosurgeon, who had volunteered to serve in Afghanistan, along with his Canadian and American colleagues changed that.

After weeks of treatment Kamila and Wasila recovered. Doctors were even able to help Kamila show her emotions again - and she got back her cheeky grin.



The British neurosurgeon who cared for Kamila - who cannot be named for security reasons - said: "The majority of people I have treated are children under 15 years, and the most common injuries have been as a result of IEDs.

"It's great when it works out, as in this case. It makes it all worthwhile. But it takes the whole team to make it work, fantastic intensive care unit support, nursing staff and physiotherapists, especially as the hospital is not scaled for humanitarian medical aid."

Another doctor who treated the girls said: "Before Kamila arrived, we had a young boy with similar injuries who died, so we were all very nervous about the chances of recovery. After initial treatment, the signs were not good, as Kamila could not move her left side and was unable to express emotion.

"Although there were to be further complications, Kamila is now interacting with the people around her and even smiling.

"We consider Kamila our miracle child. She was such a morale booster, because we see so many kids that don't make it."

Lieutenant Andrew Jelinek, from the Household Cavalry Battle Group operating in Musa Qala, said: "IEDs laid by insurgents take a terrible toll on innocent civilians.

"They have had a deadly effect on British and coalition forces but it's the ordinary Afghan people that are hit the hardest.

"Unfortunately children are the frequent victims of Taliban IEDs and, sadly, the story of Kamila and Wasila is far from unique.

"It's only thanks to the work of British soldiers that there are not more incidents of this kind.

"Back home we worry about our kids' safety when they go out to play, but here it's on a different scale.

The dangers the kids face when they are out playing are life and death. The Taliban just don't give a stuff about them.

"They plant these bombs knowing kids might set them off but they just don't care."

Kamila's dad stayed with the girls throughout their treatment, but is anxious about returning home for fear the Taliban will suspect him of consorting with the enemy.

This week tearful staff said goodbye to the girls, who hitched a ride back to Musa Qala on a British Chinook returning for a routine task. They will now receive further medical care from their nearest Forward Operating Base.

Life-saving care from the skies

The Medical Emergency Response Team – the British Forces Airmobile Hospital - is continuing to provide life-saving treatment from the skies across Helmand despite experiencing one of their busiest summers ever.

The MERT is a Chinook helicopter fully equipped with the latest medical technology to allow a specialist trauma team to provide cutting edge treatment to the most seriously injured troops on the battlefield.

The team are on call 24/7; flying into danger zones to pick up casualties, they are literally saving lives on a daily basis. The call can come at any time.

.........

Typically the round of steaming hot tea had only just been put into the hands of the flight crew when the phone went off. “Yes, that’s us,” said the pilot putting down the receiver. Within seconds the atmosphere changes from jovial banter to serious professionalism.

Minutes later the team are on the helicopter and en route to a village in the Nad Ali district from their base in Camp Bastion.

After a gut wrenching flight over potentially hostile territory, the flight lands in a small clearing outside of an Afghan village compound.

The victim - 15 year old Patay Muhammad – is brought on board by stretcher. The bottom part of his leg is missing, the stump covered by a first-aid field dressing. Within seconds the MERT takes off and heads back to Camp Bastion’s Hospital unit.

The teenager’s father, who has come aboard with him, looks on anxiously:

“My boy was out helping his uncle. He’d been sent out to fetch a goat when shortly after there was an explosion,” he said.

“I appreciate this help and the treatment he will receive in the hospital – it would take much money to have him treated at a private hospital.

I am very pleased with the behaviour of the British, it was very nice,” he added.

As Helmand Province’s combat air ambulance, the MERT operates in some of the most challenging environments imaginable.

Working as a flying emergency department, they’re supported by a bomb disposal team, fire and rescue unit and an infantry close protection squad.

Once back at Bastion’s state of the art hospital, young Patay is surrounded by a dozen medics who rush to continue the life saving work of the MERT.

Watching over the scene is Colonel Tim Hodgetts, Bastion’s field hospital medical director:

“The standard of care here is second to none - it is world-leading. You will not find this standard of care elsewhere,” he said.

Although many of the casualties who come through the hospital at Bastion are injured coalition forces soldiers, it has seen 200 Afghan Nationals pass through its doors in the last four months.