The EMSSP in Iraq
Two Boston University School of Medicine 2003 graduates, Chris Nevarez and Brian Martin, have served in Iraq. Both of them entered BUSM through the EMSSP.
Christopher Nevarez was selected to join the Early Medical School Selection Program (EMSSP) beginning in the summer of 1997, after completing his sophomore year at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Everybody who met Chris immediately knew that he is an extraordinary young man. Over the six years that he spent with us, first as an undergraduate student and then as a medical student, he became everybody’s big brother, especially young, frightened students who followed him from El Paso to Boston into the EMSSP and BUSM. He was always ready to help us help them. That is the kind of person Chris Nevarez is. He paid for his medical school education by joining the Navy Medical Corps, and graduated from BUSM in 2003 and after finishing his PGY 1 year, began life as a General Medical Office (GMO). He is now serving with the marines in Iraq.
Christopher Nevarez
February 15, 2005
I received my flight date yesterday and as of now will be leaving a week from Saturday, Feb. 26 at some ungodly hour in the am. I’m slated to return approx. 7 months later. I just wanted you, my closest friends and family, to know you’re thought of and loved. I hear I’ll be bored off my bum for the most part so any and all mail correspondence, snacks, and other things would be greatly appreciated. My address in country is as follows:
Lt. Christopher Nevarez
Battalion Surgeon
8th ESB FWD (H&S/BAS)
Unit 73681
FPO, AE 09509-3681
March 9, 2005
The flight over here is surreal in and of itself. It’s a long painful process that starts hours and hours before you actually take off. We meet at the base in order to stage our gear, load it on trucks, say goodbye to loved ones and pick up our weapons. Everyone gets a weapon. I was lucky enough to be spared an M16. However I was issued a 9mm Beretta, officer standard. We finally get weapons, load luggage and then bear the 2 hr bus ride to the air field. In case you know nothing of military life, there’s a saying you get to know well. Hurry up and wait. While waiting in the hangar, everyone’s weighed to make sure we don’t exceed the plane’s max capacity. At this point I’m carrying a carry on, a computer case with two laptops (personal and government), the narcotic box (unfortunate pleasure of being the medical officer), and my 9 mm strapped to my thigh. The flight is deceptively enjoyable at first. One of the perks of being the highest ranking guy on the flight is the joy of riding first class. The down side is it’s a flight that’s going to last approx. 15 hours. It’s a flight like any other flight, commercial carrier with meals/ drinks/ and even a warm towel for your face.
It gets surreal once you land in Iraq. The door opens and everyone files down the steps in the cool desert air at some ungodly hour in the morning but your body’s still wired for US time. It starts to hit you as you’re instructed to keep your head down and you notice the buses windows have drapes obstructing you from sight. The various signs are in a language you’ve never seen before and then they take you to get your ammunition. Yet more hours of tedious briefs, luggage unloading and reloading, sleep, and then yet another flight. This time there was no first class. Picture 56 marines and sailors piled in the back of a C130. For those non military individuals, it’s a cockpit/wings/ and fuselage with cargo netting for seats. Everyone is practically stacked on each other with the same gear we had on the previous flight only this time we have to wear our Kevlar helmets and wear our lead plated vests. The time on that plane was the MOST uncomfortable hour and 45 minutes of my life.
As for my daily routine upon arriving in country, I get up around 0600 and eat some pretty decent breakfast by 0700. We have the luxury of having an internet café open 24 hours so I stroll over there after my meal and call home daily. After about 45 minutes on the phone I start my day by sitting at my desk waiting for patients. The Navy is set up in a way that we have corpsmen as our ancillary staff. A corpsman is equivalent to a 3rd year med student. They can see patients and treat basic cases but still need to be precepted by someone like myself. The corpsmen see the patients and present to me their findings and that’s how sick call is run. I have additional responsibilities including patient tracking. If one of our marines is hurt, whether here or elsewhere, I have the duty of reporting that patient’s whereabouts and condition to my commanding officer. To complete my day, as the officer in charge of medical, I’m considered primary staff and must meet daily for CO ops intel briefs. I run the number of patients and cases of interest as well as address any preventive medicine issues that have arisen. All in all, my duties are compete by approximately 1900-1930 everyday. No matter weekday or weekend my routine is essentially unchanged meaning this is going to be a very long 7 months. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I’ll keep you posted.
Chris Nevarez M.D.
April 20, 2005
Well we’ve completed about a month and a half in country now and it’s starting to drag a bit. The first month everyone’s trying to get their proverbial footing and understand their roles in the mission so it makes for a lot of activity. Now that everyone pretty much knows what’s going on, the routine is starting to set in. It’s the same thing day in and day out unfortunately. I say unfortunately only because it brings an inevitable sense of boredom but the reality is it’s a very good thing for medical to be bored in a war zone. We have an STP just down the road and they get most of the exciting cases a la “M.A.S.H”. STP stands for shock trauma platoon and they’re set up with E.R. docs as well as surgeons. They’re responsible for the quick fix and patch jobs for the casualties that get brought in from the field. Not too far back all the providers from our base meet weekly to prepare our mass casualty plan, and that’s been just about the only time I’ve had a chance to run into Brian. It was a sudden sense of reality as we were all sitting around planning for our worst case scenarios. Mapping out patient routes, triage principles, patient identification all the while also planning for our safety and security. There are vast amounts of information you just don’t receive in medical school. I believed intern year was an eye opener with a steep learning curve but this is a curve in a different direction. Suffice it to say our plan is now in place for our area in addition to the entire base, I just hope we never have to use it.
On a lighter note, I was sitting outside my room last night relaxing with a cigar and chatting with my roommate. It’s remarkable peaceful at night in the desert. I’ve never taken much time to actually look at the stars before. You don’t appreciate just how much light you can actually receive just from the moon alone when living in a city. I know, I know, why’s a doctor smoking a cigar? Let’s use a little perspective people, I’m sitting in a war zone. Cigars aren’t the main threat to my health out here. My roommate is the only other navy officer on this camp besides the chaplain who doesn’t really count. It’s interesting to get his perspective on things since he’s certainly more military minded than I am. Despite the fact we’re both the 3rd highest rank in our camp, we’re still somewhat outsiders. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re not mistreated, ignored, or looked down on. It’s just that in a camp full of marines, the Navy guys often get forgotten especially medical, that is until somebody gets hurt of course. Well that’s enough rambling for one morning. God bless and I’ll talk to you soon.
Chris Nevarez M.D.
Brian Martin is a young man from the US Virgin Islands and was a sophomore at the University of the Virgin Islands when he was accepted into the EMSSP in 1997. Brian had been working and paying his own way through college so the adjustment to Boston and not being able to work was a challenge. But, like with all things in his life, Brian faced the challenge, exceeded what he had to do and became an important member of our BUSM Community. He was always ready to help out as a student. He still talks about wanting to help other EMSSP students even though he is no longer at BUSM. He has a wife and a family which will have a new addition in the near future. He joined the Navy Medical Corp which paid his way through BUSM, and he recently arrived in Iraq as a General Medical Officer.
March 17, 2005
Hello Dr E.
I am over here in Iraq keeping my head down while caring for patients. It’s relatively safe! How is everyone doing? How are you and your family? I hope to visit some time at the end of the year. Is there anything I could do to help with the program? I saw Chris yesterday and I will email you the pics. How soon do you need them? Well, I’ll write later.
Brian Martin
April 7, 2005
Hello Dr. E. How’s it going? I usually get up at 7:00 am and start seeing patients around 8:00. I see routine primary care stuff: knee pain, back pain, URIs, rashes, depression, combat stress, lacerations and believe it or not Gyn. We actually set up a make shift pelvic exam table, with loops made of cloth hanging from the ceiling, for stirrups. I am learning a lot as I am in charge of my clinic and I am the only Doc. I have 6 corpsmen with me and a Chief who can also see pts. I usually go to the gym at 11:00 as I promised my wife that I would have an 8-pack abdomen upon return. In the evening I go to a meeting with other officers. After that I read or sometimes I go to the surgical tent to help out with procedures. Oh, I think I forgot to talk about food, maybe that’s why I’m so skinny. I go to breakfast around 7:30, lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 18:00 and the food is actually pretty good. If a patient needs more long term or intensive care, I usually let one of the emergency med docs take a look before we medevac. Also, for convenience and easy access, I sleep in the clinic, so once the word got out I now have somewhat of a late night clinic (this is my entirely fault).
I don’t see Nevarez on a regular basis because he’s on the other side of the camp. I am calling a lot of shots and things I don’t know I research. This enhances my development and knowledge as a physician, so I guess there’s at least one positive to this deployment (although I am having trouble coming up with others). I have not been able to do any sight -seeing off base, because as you know, we’ve got just a few enemies building pipe bombs ( a.k.a. IEDs, improvised explosive devices). I think I’ll save my sight-seeing appetite for Disney World. So, I can’t comment on the appearance of the country but I am learning a lot about their culture. For instance, men and women have separate ‘lounging’ areas in the household and neither sex is allowed in the other’s area. This is something I may adopt ;-).
I hope things are going well, let me know if you have anymore questions.
Brian Martin, M.D.
April 12, 2005
My son is here!!!
He’s a little early but he is healthy. Mica and the Baby are doing well!!
Brian.
From time to time we will be posting messages and pictures from Chris and Brian on our website.
