USA TODAY International Edition
VOLUNTEER MEDICS SAVE LIVES NEAR FRONT LINES
Multinational group braves war’s risks near Mosul
ABU SAIF, IRAQ It’s a relatively quiet day at this small “field hospital” on the edge of Abu Saif village, a short distance from the bloody siege underway in western Mosul. A diluted bloodstain on the floor is the only sign left of the frantic activity here two days earlier, when scores of national police and a few civilians were brought in with wounds ranging from light to lethal.
“Sometimes they come in with a sore throat, and sometimes they’re close to dead,” said Alex Moreau, 36, of Vancouver, a veteran of the Canadian armed forces who goes by the nickname “Mega Destroyer.”
Moreau is a founding member of the Multinational Emergency Response Medical Team, a Canadian aid group created in August to help a team of Iraqi volunteer doctors. The group’s rotating team is currently made up of seven foreign volunteer medics.
Supporting the Mosul offensive is the group’s first mission together. The medics treated their first casualty Feb. 21 at a different field hospital, a day after the launch of the offensive to retake western Mosul, Islamic State group militants’ last major stronghold in Iraq.
The battle has been fierce, as the militants have made a last stand with car bombs, booby traps and sniper fire. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled, and hundreds of Iraqi forces and civilians have been killed or injured, although official casualty figures have not been released.
As the occasional black plume from a car bomb explosion rises from nearby Mosul, “Rescue Raccoon,” a medic from Atlanta whose real name is Ryan Walker, explained the monikers.
“We used to have really formal military call signs, but we got tired of them,” Walker, 31, said with a grin as he sported a raccoonshaped puppet around his stethoscope. “So we made up our own.”
Anthony “Danger Mike” Burton, 34, an Australian from Brisbane who spent 10 months near the front lines in Syria, claims credit for the nicknames. “I told them that if you want to get in touch with me, call me ‘ Danger Mike,’ ” he said. The custom caught on, and other medics answer to names such as “Hotrod” and “The Professor.”
Their field hospital is actually a spacious house packed with medical supplies and signs of the International Red Crescent painted on the walls to signify it is a medical facility. A tent outside has additional tables in case of a heavy patient load.
In all, 15 Iraqi and foreign medics — five of them doctors — work here, although some of the Iraqi physicians have specializations more fitting for peacetime, such as dermatology. Their job is to quickly patch up and stabilize the wounded, who will then be treated at a larger hospital farther from the battlefield.
The seven foreign medics come from different countries and backgrounds. Walker has only civilian training but worked as a paramedic in Kuwait and Lebanon. Moreau also volunteered with Kurd fighters in Syria for more than six months. He said he has the least medical training among the group, so his main role is security and organization.
While tending to the wounded in Syria’s devastating civil war, Moreau saw a need for medical staff and supplies near the front lines. After launching the aid group, the team chose to work near Mosul because members would be needed despite the personal dangers. “Aid workers need to be safe in conflicts but ... ( casualties) need to be quickly treated,” he said.
About half of the wounds are from bullets and half from car bombs and other explosives.
Civilians arrive with fewer bullet wounds and more fragments from explosives that usually hit them while trying to escape Mosul. Nearly 4,000 are fleeing daily, according to the United Nations.
“No one prepares you for this. But you have to suck it up and try to help the others,” said Andersson, a former sergeant in the Swedish army trained in urban combat and as a medic.