SAN DIEGO — In anticipation of more U.S. casualties in Iraq and the lengthy care needed for the wounded and their families, the Naval Medical Center is expanding its programs for amputees and other severely injured patients.
Also, the San Diego facility is setting up therapy groups for post-traumatic stress sufferers and -- in a change that broadens the focus from just the patient -- support groups for families of the wounded.
"You can't take care of just the Marine, you have to take care of the family too," said Capt. Amy Wandel, the hospital's chief plastic surgeon.
By summer, the sprawling hospital on the edge of Balboa Park plans to have a combat casualty center so that Marines who have been gravely wounded, such as losing an arm or leg, no longer have to go to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington or Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, far from their families.
The hospital here -- the busiest in the U.S. military -- has concentrated more on follow-up care for combat casualties, after the initial surgery and rehabilitation have been done at other places.
Now, injured troops from West Coast units will be flown directly to San Diego from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the U.S. military hospital that is the first stop for personnel injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.
With 25,000 Marines from Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms, Calif., recently deployed to Iraq as part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's third tour, doctors are bracing for another round of wounded, including many with severe blast injuries from improvised explosive devices hidden along roadsides.
"Unfortunately, we've developed a lot of expertise in that field," said Capt. Bruce L. Gillingham, the hospital's director of surgical services.
Gillingham, an orthopedic surgeon, amputated numerous shattered limbs while serving in a combat hospital during the bloody battle for Fallouja in 2004.
The percentage of wounded who are amputees is higher in the Iraq war than in previous conflicts because improved body armor is helping troops survive blasts that in the past would have been fatal. One military study showed that 2.5% of injuries result in amputations.
California and Texas, followed by Florida and Georgia, have the highest numbers of U.S. service personnel listed as amputees from the U.S. missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Starting in June, the hospital anticipates caring for up to 50 amputees a year once the new center is fully staffed.
