Armed Forces News

Marines and sailors wounded in battle and treated at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md., are receiving a comprehensive approach to health care. The program, implemented at the end of March, is used for all new Operation Iraqi Freedom patients. Health care providers focus on individual patient needs for rehabilitation, psychological counseling, and family support, instead of only healing the wound and releasing the patient. “Everyone is involved in the care of the patient,” said Capt. Raquel C. Bono, director of the Medical-Surgical Directorate. “As soon as the casualty comes in, the Multi-Disciplinary Team meets and projects what the patient’s needs will be beyond hospitalization.” A great deal of recovery depends on the emotional and mental support the patient gets, Bono added. The team brings family members into health care discussions early on in the treatment, since they help the patient through the hospitalization and are an important factor in the recovery.