Here's the welcome sign seen by arriving chopper crews. The picture is not very good, but the sign says: "Welcome to the Finest Hospital in Vietnam - The 71st Evac Hosp - The reason for our existence has just arrived - YOU, our patient". What's really funny about the sign is that patients being welcomed were usually horizontal, bleeding, wounded and/or dying, being whisked into the Emergency Room by 71st medics on a dead run, thus missing the warm, friendly greeting. Perhaps it was a subtle attempt at humor??
View of Emergency Room wing of hospital. Helipad is in foreground.
This building formed a "T" with ER, X-Ray, Admissions, and Lab in the
body of the "T", with Surgery on the left and Post-Op/Recovery/ICU on
the right of the horizontal bar.
ER just waiting for the action to start.
And this is how the ER looked most of the time....everybody working feverishly to save lives. This was the action that all of us medics lived for...doing our jobs...saving lives!!
Here's a Surgical Team setting up for a case in OR #3. Patient is being prepped on the table.
Everyone's getting ready to save another life, in this case a VC Colonel
who liked to spit at the people who were trying to save his skinny butt.
Colostomy in progress in OR #2, Kenna Given, MD, operating, assisted by
Lt. Birdsell and an assistant, whose name escapes me. Dr. Given was always a
gentleman and a great surgeon. I worked with him a lot and he was always a
pleasure to work with.
(Breaking news: 3/24/03-I just spoke with Dr. Given on the phone. We talked about some of our more memorable cases and memorable people. It was wonderful to hear his voice again, after all these years. He's still enthusiastic and professional, as always. A very compassionate man, he expressed regret about one GI in particular who'd taken a neck shot, blowing out his carotid artery. Another surgeon had repaired the artery and, doing the best he knew how, overlaid the repair with a skin graft. Later, the graft failed and the patient died. Kenna said, "If we'd known then what we know now, we could have maybe saved that boy, but we just didn't have the skills." He's a great man and I'm happy to have worked with him. I'm hoping he'll write a story or two for us. Big salute to Maj. Given!!)
Thanks for visiting ...SP5 Steven Streeper