Navy Medical Officer Recruiting 7522 Connelley Dr. Suite A Hanover, MD, 21076

B A L T I M O R E A R E A

FRIENDS OF NAVY MEDICINE

Local Reserve Physician Completes First Exercise

August , 2013 Volume 2, I ssue 2

It's been a little over a year since Baltimore

Psychiatrist, Dr. Bernard Fischer, was officially

sworn in as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy

Reserve, Medical Corps. In that time he's gotten

his uniform and ID card, attended drill weekends,

and even completed his two week Officer

Development Course in Newport, RI. Recently he

was able to add another important milestone to

his list of accomplishments; he completed his first

field exercise in May of 2013.

Although LCDR Fischer drills out of the Navy Reserve Center in Baltimore, his official unit is Expeditionary Medical Facility One (EMF 1) which is headquartered on Great Lakes, IL. The purpose of the EMF system is to be able to set up field hospitals in remote areas in the event of conflict or humanitarian crisis operations.

EMF 1 was one of many medical and Construction Battalion (Sea Bees) units that arrived to Cheatham Annex, in Williamsburg, VA to test a new Chemically Hardened Expeditionary Medical Facility. The facility is designed to allow forces to provide medical care in an environment containing chemical or biological agents.

As LCDR Fischer described it, " We put up a "small" EMF (we had about 170 staff inside) and then tested the collective protection liner. The test was a 72 hr lock-down where we treated simulated casualties coming in through an airlock while Sea Bees and contractors tested our air exchange and pressure."

The unit was split up into two teams, one that was assigned for the construction and another assigned for the recovery of the facility. "Things went really well. Both the set-up and take down took significantly less time than was expected and the tests were all passed." he added.

LCDR Bernard Fischer (center), a Baltimore

area Psychiatrist, stands with other members of

the EMF-1 health care team during a recent

training exercise in Virginia.

While field exercises are always great experiences, LCDR Fischer is also looking forward to his next adventure, a voluntary deployment to the NATO Hospital in Khandahar, Afghanistan. He expects to leave in early 2014, but has already begun to prepare as much as possible.

"I spoke to the reserve specialty leader for psychiatry- he just got back from Role 3 last year- and he answered a lot of my questions. I'll be doing brief therapy, med management, and triaging for evacuation to Germany. According to what I've heard, about 2/3 of the cases will come from the field and about 1/3 will be care for the care-giver (making sure all the trauma and surgical teams are okay considering what they see and have to deal with.) It will be hard to be away from the family, but I think it will be really rewarding for us all." he said.

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Friends of Navy Medicine

Officer Development School Info

Maryland School of Medicine Student, Ensign Nicole Bouchard, Reports on Her Training

Ensign Nicole Bouchard is currently

attending The University of Maryland School of

Medicine under the Navy Health Professions

Scholarship Program. She recently completed Officer

Development School in Newport, Rhode Island and

was kind enough to provide feedback on her

experiences.

1- What did you do to prepare for ODS? Was there anything that you over/under prepared for? Aside from packing (which took way longer than it should have), I studied a lot of gouge before going - Sailor's Creed, Rank Insignia, Code of Conduct, etc. Although we had time to study there during free time and at night, I felt much better already knowing all that information, especially the ranks! I didn't get any knowledge questions wrong during my inspections and I owe that to the fact that I started memorizing early in a less stressful environment (i.e. on my couch).

I also got myself physically ready by running 3 miles in the morning 3 days a week and doing strength and conditioning on the off days. This really paid off, even though PT wasn't at all rigorous. Some people struggled with our sustained run days.

2- What was your biggest challenge during the course? The biggest challenge for me was not falling asleep in class, really. I spent most of my time standing in the back. I would recommend to future students that if they are big coffee drinkers that they ween themselves off of it before getting there. I ended up with caffeine withdrawal headaches my first 2 days (the longest 2 days) which made everything unnecessarily harder.

Another challenge for me was, surprisingly, becoming accustomed to the "team" attitude. My whole life I have been used to being responsible for my own actions and my own actions alone. All of a sudden, I (and everyone else) was being held accountable for others' mistakes. It was hard at first not to get frustrated by this, and I know I wasn't the only one. The faster everyone learns to ask for help when they need it and offer help when they see others needing it, the better it will be...for everyone.

My company was a little slow on this learning curve. With most of us being medical students, we were all kind of used to competing against our peers. I spent a lot of nights earlier on becoming frustrated with people, and it wasn't until I was the one who screwed up when it finally clicked. Once we really started working together, everything ran so much more smoothly.

3- What was/were your best experiences? I met some great people that I know I will end up working with throughout my Navy career, and being able to make those connections, with people that I had so much in common with on so many levels, was amazing. You get really close with your peers in just 5 weeks, especially because there is no privacy, alone time, etc. I really did make some great friends. I'm still texting my roommate every day.

4- Now that you are through with ODS do you feel any different? I feel completely different, actually! I feel like I accomplished something really big. I feel proud to be in the Navy and don't feel as weird telling people about it, mostly because I really understands what that means now.

5- Are you still happy with your decision to join the Navy? I am, in fact, even more happy with my decision now than I ever was before! Even though there was a lot of nonsense we had to deal with while at training, I loved feeling like a real part of the military for the first time. I really think I'm going to have an amazing career and I don't know how any civilian doctor's experience will ever come close to mine.

Ensign Nicole Bouchard and her mother following her graduation from Officer Development School this summer. ODS is a five week course in Newport, Rhode Island.

http://www.ocs.navy.mil/ods.asp

Page 3 Friends of Navy Medicine

Navy Medicine News from Around the Fleet

Navy Medicine Lends a Hand With Pacific Partnership 2013

Navy at Navy Medical Center San Diego

bxcb

The following article was written by Commander Carolyn Currie,

a Woman’s Health Nurse Practioner and Director of Theater

Engagement for Disaster and Humanitarian Relief at the Navy

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. This is her report on a recent

visit to Kiribati.

Another Saturday night at sea. We left Kiribati

yesterday afternoon and are enroute to our next

stop.

We departed the island hot, dusty and tired, but

tremendously satisfied that we achieved our

objectives and left the place better than we found

it. There were cheers and waves at the pier as the

last landing craft utility bound for the USS Pearl

Harbor pulled away.

The ship is once again bursting at the seams, as

we embarked over 100 of our Kiwi counterparts

onto the ship yesterday. Their presence has

reminded us how far we’ve come on our journey.

As they wander the ship looking very lost and

very wobbly on their new found sea legs, we

chuckle to ourselves that it was only nine weeks

ago that we had the same bewildered looks on our

faces as we bounced off the bulkheads with every

rock and roll of the ship at sea. An overhead

announcement this morning that the water was

being turned off due to an unbalanced

consumption to production ratio, also brought

back memories of our earlier days of a full ship!

Solomon Island citizens and children tour a landing craft medium (LCM) assigned to the Royal New Zealand ship HMNZS Canterbury (LSL-421)

after landing ashore to drop off personnel and supplies during Pacific Partnership 2013. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist

2nd Class Carlos M. Vazquez II/Released)

The New Zealand Defense Forces took over the

lead for the mission in Kiribati and will continue

to do so in the Solomon Islands (or Solies as they

call them). Integrating our forces has been a

challenge, but not without great reward. We have

learned to pool our talents to plan engagements,

work side by side to solve problems and are

making new friends along the way. We still have

Aussie, Canadian, Malaysian and Korean partners

aboard as well. We no longer notice the different

uniforms, the accents are now commonplace and

everyone joins in when the deck of cards breaks

out in the office or we have a spontaneous movie

night in the wardroom.

My mood has changed to melancholy as we get

ready to say goodbye to many of our embarked

crew. A number of Americans will leave the USS

Pearl Harbor along with the embarked Kiwis and

crossdeck to the NZ ship Canterbury. The

Solomon Islands will be our last mission stop

before we head back to Hawaii. It’s hard to

believe the deployment is almost over. What an

amazing experience it’s been!

The next few days will be filled with planning

meetings, briefs and manifests as we plan for our

engagements in the Solomon Islands. As with our

previous mission stops we will be putting on

health fairs, nursing symposiums, working side-

by-side with host nation counterparts in clinics

and hospitals and collaborating with host nation

officials to support their health system

strengthening initiatives. The most rewarding

moments will come on the ground when we make

new friends, break bread together, share stories

and celebrate our similarities as well as our

diversity!

I hope all is well at home. Although I am sad to

see the end of this adventure coming fast, I am

anxious to get back to my normal routine. I miss

my friends and family!

Learn more about Pacific Partnership here:

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=75963

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Friends of Navy Medicine

News and Notes Navy Medicine and Dentistry Around Town

Ramon DeJesus, MD

recently affiliated with the Navy Reserves. LCDR

DeJesus is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon

from Bel Air, MD.

Caitlin Choi was recently

selected for the Health Professions Scholarship

Program. Originally from Baltimore, MD she

graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2011

and has been accepted to Des Moines University

of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Ramon DeJesus and Chief Wheeler following his

commissioning ceremony in May.

Lindsey Deacon was

recently selected for the Health Services

Collegiate Program. She is originally from York,

PA and is a graduate of the University of

Richmond. She has been accepted to New York

University School of Dentistry.

Caitlin Choi (Center) stands with her recruiter Chief Wheeler

(Left) and her commissioning officer Ensign Brock (Right)

Ensign Alex

Blau of Ijaimsville,

MD completed Officer

Development School in

June. He will be

beginning his studies at

Philadelphia College of

Osteopathic Medicine this fall.

Lindsey Deacon enlists in the Health Services Collegiate

Program (Dental) at the Navy Officer Recruiting Station

in Baltimore on July 1, 2013.

Page 5 Friends of Navy Medicine

WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR SUMMER VACATION?

Baltimore area Nurse Allison Katter Was in Afghanistan

She Sent The Following Email Update

I am so sorry for the late update! I was up at Tarin Kowt (TK) for about 2

months starting in May and got really busy doing patient transfers (En Route

Care). I got back from Tarin Kowt right after the holiday in July and then we

got pretty busy at the Role 3. We have been pretty busy seeing a lot of

Neurosurgery patients and patients with eye and maxillofacial injuries, as that

is what our medical rules of engagement allows us to see for the Afghan

population due to the draw down.

I do have to say, the difference between what we were seeing two years ago and

now is interesting. Since we are leaving next year, the goal was to obviously

make it so that the Afghan folks will be able to stand more on their feet

medically...and they are taking this over well! Seeing where they were two

years ago and where they are now is really a testament to their drive to see

their country in a better place. I am so proud to have been a part of this

process along the way!

Attached are a couple of pictures, both from TK from when I was flying. One is

just me, the other is with my Dustoff Army Medic, Specialist Machado, while we

are taking care of two patients on a transfer to Kandahar Regional Military

Hospital from TK.

As always, I love having the opportunity to work not only with other branches

in the military, but also with other nations. At Kandahar Airfield, we have

some Australian docs and nurses, as well as some Belgium nurses. I hope this

email finds you well!

- Allison Katter, LT, NC, USNR

-

Page 6

Friends of Navy Medicine

for more information About

Baltimore Area Friends of Navy Medicine

Contact Chief Bob wheeler

410-761-7419 bob.wheeler@navy.mil

Navy Medical Officer Programs 7522 Connelley Dr, Suite A

Hanover, MD 21076

410-761-7419

(Above) MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(Auguts 1, 2012) -Lt. Cmdr. Jenny Burkett, an intensive care unit nurse attached to 1st Medical Bn., monitors a ventilator during a training exercise

at 1st Medical Battalion