Hopefully this equipment will help the people of Iraq, said Lt. Col. Mark Solomons, from Honolulu, Hawaii, the commander of 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, as he watches Mohammed Mamoud Ahmed, an electrical engineer at Abu Ghraib Hospital, ceremoniously cut the wrapping of a brand-new oxygen generator delivered to the people of Iraq, Sept. 12, here. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell

Oxygen tanks are necessary for any hospital and they are vital for performing surgery.

“Sometimes we stop doing these surgeries because we have to wait for oxygen,” said Mohammed Mamoud Ahmed, an electrical engineer for Abu Ghraib Hospital. “It has happened a couple of times and when it gets critical, we have to get it from other hospitals.”

To prevent this incident from happening again, the Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment and 442nd Civil Affairs Bn., dropped off an industrial oxygen generator at the hospital, Sept. 12, here.

“One of our biggest problems is the oxygen supply,” said Mohammed. “With the winter coming, that’s the peak season for colds and illnesses when we need oxygen here the most.”

The staff at the hospital waited patiently for a long time for an answer to this problem and were excited when U.S. troops offered a solution, explained Mohammed.

“We used to suffer too much because we would bring oxygen from as far away as Ramadi,” explained Mohammed. “That’s about 100 kilometers away.”

He also said that the community is grateful to have a good connection with U.S. forces and have a chance to have their concerns really listened to and understood.

“This project has tangible benefits…it actually keeps people safe and that’s an important perk,” said 1st Lt. Noah Webster, project manager and native of Austin, Texas, assigned to HHC, 2nd Bn., 8th Cav. Regt., attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

The new oxygen machine will provide the over-capacity hospital with a necessary tool to help the people of Iraq, added Webster.

“It gives the hospital more independence and it helps the local people,” said Mohammed. “The poor and underprivileged people will benefit the most from this machine.”

According to the administration, the hospital needs about 50 bottles of oxygen a day for patients. The new oxygen generator running at maximum capacity will be able to provide 75 bottles per day, explained Webster.

It wasn’t easy for U.S. forces to coordinate getting the generator to its new home. The hulking machine came from New York to Chicago and then overseas to Dubai and eventually Baghdad, but Webster said the bottom-line was good cross-unit coordination.

After moving the machine into place with a large forklift at a congested Abu Ghraib Hospital, the Soldiers held a small ceremony to complete the event.

“We’re really not here anymore to fight in a kinetic capacity, but more in a civil capacity,” explained Webster. “The locals see us getting this huge piece of equipment off the back of a flatbed truck and they may not know what it is, but they know we’re here to help.”

With a sigh of relief, the Soldiers graciously accepted thanks from the staff of the hospital and agreed that Operation Exhale brought a breath of fresh air to a hopeful community.

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell

A woman talks to a nurse about her husband’s condition at the Abu Ghraib Hospital, west of Baghdad, Jan 15

The once war-ravished Abu Ghraib Hospital, west of Baghdad, is slowly but surely getting new life. What was once one crumbling building is now a sprawling complex, boasting new equipment to better care for the hundreds of thousands of people who live in the city.

Approximately $3 million was spent by five different sources for approximately 20 different refurbishment and building projects.

“The most difficult part of this whole operation was getting the different funding organizations together to synchronize their efforts,” said Keith Parker, a native of Henderson, Nev., and senior public health advisor for the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, assigned to 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.

The first organization to fund projects was the International Relief and Development organization. Other projects were then funded by the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, Iraq-CERP, Quick Response Fund and the Government of Iraq’s Ministry of Health.

Parker said the MoH now funds more than 50 percent of the projects, but its involvement was slow coming and took a lot of coordination.

“It is great they are now funding their own work,” Parker said. “It’s hard to have pride in something given to you.”

The man behind the coordination of all the organizations was Dr. Naja Nouri, the hospital’s director. Parker said he was insistent for the MoH to come on board and provide the support the agency was created for.

Since the beginning of the projects, Nouri has overseen the progress to ensure each was completed in a timely manner and with the quality he said he expects from a hospital.

“How can I not know what is going on here” he asked. “It is important for me, as the hospital director, to make sure each project is done right so we can give the best care possible.”

Parker stressed the importance of Nouri’s oversight as well as regular inspections by the MoH engineers.

“The MoH engineers are really great,” he said. “They increase the quality of work and really ensure the work is done to proper standards.”

Parker said he hopes this hospital’s success is a model for other hospitals in the area.

“Change is difficult,” he said, “but the process is slowly shifting to the right people at the right levels of government. This is what needs to happen to slowly take the U.S. out of the picture. This is their time to shine.”

DVIDS
By Sgt. 1st Class Christina Bhatti
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

Newborn baby sleeps in an incubator at Abu Ghraib Hospital, west of Baghdad

For the first time in many years, the Abu Ghraib Hospital was able to turn on its lights in November – without having to count down the hours until the lights went out again.

After several months of planning and work by the Beladiya, the Abu Ghraib Hospital started receiving constant power through an 11kv power line that stretches nearly 1.5 kilometers back to the Al Ban Substation.

The new 11kv power line is exempted from the load-shedding plan that forces substation operations to ration limited power to the various neighborhoods connected to it on a two hours on and a four hours off schedule, said Capt. Mark Gillman, a native of Las Vegas, who serves as an engineer, assigned to 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.

With sufficient power, the more than two dozen physicians are now able to run basic services without disturbance, including laboratory equipment, refrigeration of medications and more complex neonatal incubators and echocardiograms, he explained.

Periodic stoppages throughout the day have long hindered treatment, particularly for inpatients. The 50-bed hospital is the primary inpatient facility in west Baghdad and serves more than 200,000 residents from Khadamiyah to Balad.

The U.S.-funded project cost approximately $200,000 and began in August, with the digging of a trench from the substation to the hospital and reinforcing certain areas of the trench to provide extra support for the line.

The Abu Ghraib Hospital electric line project is just one project of the hospital network, which is funded by both the United States and the government of Iraq.

“We are able to move forward on many projects now due to the increased security by the local security forces,” said a member of the Abu Ghraib Qada Council, after a meeting at governance center.

The 11kv line project is just one element of a group of larger projects to completely renovate the hospital: inside and out.

This was made possible only through the cooperation and coordination of the Abu Ghraib Nahia Council, Abu Ghraib Electric Office, Abu Ghraib Beladiya Office, Abu Ghraib Irrigation Office, Abu Ghraib Sewage Office and the Karkh Directorate General for Electricity Distribution.

If not for the support and cooperation of these GoI offices to plan and approve the dedicated electric line, the hospital would have continued in its struggle to support a population of more than 300,000 people with the eight hours of sporadic power it received per day.

“I have been overjoyed at the support of the local government,” said Dr. Najh Noori Jaber, hospital director, “We have been in much need, and they have come through to help the people of Abu Ghraib.”

DVIDS
By Capt. Benjamin Roark
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division