07/15/2021
256th Infantry Brigade doing great things in the U.S. Central Command Area of Operations!
A 10-year old child fell approximately 3.5 meters off a building and landed on his shoulder in northeast Syria, July 4th, 2021.
The boy was in and out of consciousness, had bruises on his forehead, a fractured clavicle, distorted eyes and bleeding from his nose and right ear. The child was taken to a Coalition physician assistant where Capt. Paul Leger and Staff Sgt. Larre Donaldson immediately stabilized the young boy. They feared he had sustained a brain injury and getting him the help he needed was priority.
“[I immediately thought], how can we get this child to a higher level of care if he has a brain bleed?” Donaldson said. “He definitely could have died.”
The team reached out to medical professionals for a consultation and the child’s injuries were consistent with a traumatic brain injury. It was determined a medical evacuation was necessary.
Leger and Donaldson continued to treat the child for the next six hours with x-rays, bedside ultrasounds and pressure-relieving care.
Given their remote location, the team didn’t have access to the equipment they needed. To determine the scope of his injuries and save his life, they had to medically evacuate him.
The child was still in and out of consciousness when the medical helicopters DUSTOFF 67 and 68 arrived. He was given multiple assessments by the critical care flight paramedic, Capt. Dalton Eldridge and en route critical care nurse, Staff Sgt. Daniel Chavez.
Eventually the young child became fully alert during their flight and a sigh of relief was immediately felt throughout the cabin.
“Our aircraft is our best medicine”, said Chavez. “It is the most important thing we do.”
The child received further medical attention by the ground surgeon team and was cleared to return home two days later. When the young boy was able to walk off the helicopters and was met with open arms by his family.
It was a rough few days, but the CJTF-OIR medical professionals in Iraq and Syria worked together in order to make a potentially bad situation better; building trust along the way.