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Fleet Hospital 8 Heading Home

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS030717-04

Release Date: 7/17/2003 9:00:00 AM

By Journalist 1st Class (SW) Stacey Moore, Fleet Hospital 8 Public Affairs

ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- After caring for almost 1,400 inpatients and performing more than 250 surgeries, Fleet Hospital (FH) 8 has pulled up stakes and is heading home. The tents and equipment have been crated up and stowed into shipping containers for transit back to the United States.

Fleet Hospital 8 is the first 250-bed Fleet Hospital deployed since the Gulf War. It provided medical support to sick and injured American warriors deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Fleet Hospital 8 initially deployed Feb. 16.

"These American heroes," according to FH-8 Commanding Officer Capt. Pat Kelly, "deserved and got world-class healthcare and caring from a highly motivated team of professionals assigned to FH-8."

Drawing from 20 commands throughout the United States, FH-8 hit the ground running with the initial assembly of a 116-bed Expeditionary Medical Facility and later transitioned to a larger, more capable 250-bed Fleet Hospital. According to Kelly, "we were needed early on to establish an alternative medical treatment capability in the communication zone, and once established, continued with our original plan to build a more capable Fleet Hospital."

The staff was a combination of doctors, nurses, corpsmen, Seabees and a host of administrative and technical support personnel. The entire process, from the assembly through the tear-down, was an all-hands effort, which tested the ability to construct a major tent hospital and care for warriors in a field setting.

To transport patients to and from the flight line, the Fleet Hospital staff integrated the Air Force's Mobile Aero-medical Staging Facility (MASF) into the hospital structure, allowing safer, more comfortable patient movement. MASF was responsible for the unloading and loading of patients from medical evacuation flights and transport to and from the hospital. Additionally, they incorporated a Joint Warrior Support Center for the first time. This was comprised of service liaison personnel from all the services. These liaisons provided relief to the patients in the form of clothing, identification cards, family notification, command contact and even new shoes.

According to Kelly, "Fleet Hospital 8 was the first, largest and longest deployed Fleet Hospital in Navy Medicine." The hospital had many firsts for a field unit. The mental health department took lessons learned from previous conflicts and applied a proactive approach to evaluating the patients to screen for early signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Appropriate interventions were taken early on to preclude future related problems. Prior to returning warriors to their home units, they provided redeployment briefs to address normal stressors associated with family separation.

Additionally, management information personnel built the first successful Local Area Network and used multiple new computer systems in a field environment, including the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support System, a comprehensive inventory and supplies provider.

"I couldn't be more proud of this staff," according to Kelly, who added, "They cared for every patient with great care and professionalism. It was a great honor, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to be deployed with them and do what we did."