Reserve doctor provides crucial
medical care in El Salvador

Lt. Col. (Dr.) William Mosier bottle feeds a 3-month-old malnourished baby in El Salvador. (U.S. Air Force photo by 1st Lt. Caroline Lorimer)

By Master Sgt. Shayne Sewell
459th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

Hundreds of pairs of glasses were provided to adults with visual impairment and hundreds of teeth were pulled from children and adults in the midst of sugar cane fields surrounding thatched-roofed houses where electricity and potable water is non-existent. This was the setting for Lt. Col. William Mosier, primary care provider, 459th Aeromedical Staging Squadron.

A medical readiness team consisting of two dentists, two optometrists, four physicians and two physician assistants supported by a staff of four nurses and 19 medical technicians traveled to El Salvador in March to provide care to approximately 7,500 Salvadorians.

"The medical readiness team worked alongside Salvadorian military physicians and government service physicians as part of an inter-country cooperative effort designed to provide needed health care to families in the rural parts of El Salvador that have limited access to medical, dental and optometry services," said Mosier.

He served as the officer-in-charge of pediatric services during the deployment and provided direct care to 533 of the 2,767 pediatric patients who were treated over the nine-day period.

Thousands of medical interventions such as, prescribing medications for anemia, ear infections and pneumonia; casting broken bones and providing education on proper hygiene techniques were performed to decrease disease and improve the quality of life.

"The majority of the children treated had severe anemia," Mosier said. Other commonly treated conditions included: pneumonia, bronchitis, otitis media and asthma. Many less common conditions were also encountered such as: cleft palate in a 2-year-old, microcephalia in a 6-year-old, neuro-tube disorder in a 7-year-old, rectal prolapse in a one-year-old, and even steroid toxicity found in a 9-year-old.

"One patient arrived with a machete inflicted wound to the left hand. He had been cutting sugar cane in the fields when an argument broke-out. A machete had been imbedded in the back of his hand, down to the bone leaving the ligaments and nerves to the fingers visibly exposed," explained Mosier. The medical team discussed the case, planned the surgical procedure to be performed and provided intervention to save the individual's hand.

Mosier performed the procedure with the assistance of one Salvadorian physician. The repair, performed under field conditions, was followed over the period of the deployment with no post-surgical complications.

When the patient was released from care with return of full strength and range of motion, his tears of joy demonstrated his apparent gratitude.

The ability to communicate in Spanish with the individuals receiving treatment is the key to providing optimal patient education concerning health care follow-up and preventive medicine. "Probably the most important issue critical to mission success was the need for providers who were fluent in Spanish," said Mosier.

"Long after the positive effects of the immediate interventions would be forgotten, families who received counseling on health care maintenance, sanitation and hygiene would have the basic skills to be more proactive and self-determined in the management of their personal health care needs," said Mosier.

A veteran of six humanitarian missions, Mosier, is used to austere conditions. "It keeps me very humble and allows me to appreciate what we have here in the U.S."

Because of his civilian occupation as a professor of developmental pediatrics at Wright State University, Ohio, Mosier said he feels these missions provide a wealth of teaching material and enhances the quality of his teaching by being able to cite examples of particular procedures he has performed such as repairing cleft palates.

"I spend more time on education on these humanitarian missions than I do in the U.S., he said. "Because what people didn't know before we arrived is what is really going to help them when we leave. The key to social progress is education."