JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – The Hippocratic Oath is viewed as a rite of passage for physicians. It is not unique to U.S. doctors, but familiar to all in the profession. As medical practitioners from the San Antonio Military Medical Center traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to conduct an orthopedic medical readiness exercise (MEDRETE) recently, a specific element of that oath was on the forefront of their minds.

A rallying point of the oath could not be more poignant for missions like MEDRETEs: "I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability." Army Lt. Col. Mickey Cho, mission commander and orthopedic surgeon, offered more insight. “MEDRETEs are an excellent opportunity for surgeons and operating room staff to provide needed surgical services to an underserved population. MEDRETEs also allow surgical teams to work together in an operational setting simulating a deployment environment in terms of managing limited resources and triaging surgical priorities.”

MEDRETEs normally offer general health care to depressed regions in countries that lack the infrastructure to support the population. The team of 19 medical professionals and surgeons spearheaded SAMMC's three-fold mission; focus on repair of specific hand and arm orthopedic conditions; increase their proficiency, and enhance U.S. - Honduran relations while improving the host nation health care structure.

These missions involve months of planning and coordination across multiple levels of command. In addition to Brooke Army Medical Center, Joint Task Force Bravo, U.S. Army South, Regional Health Command – Central (Provisional), U.S. Army Medical Command, and U.S. Southern Command, all were critical to the mission's success.

Army Capt. Christina Deehl, executive officer for the MEDRETE, was an essential element of the planning process. “I did a lot of the pre-planning, making sure logistically we were prepared, doing inventories, packing, shipping, quartering the shipment of goods on all the pallets to arrive in Honduras," Deehl said.

Planning began around June, making for long work hours for Deehl, a dietician by trade, whose "day job" is the commander of Co. A, Troop Command, BAMC.

With an estimated homicide rate of 171 per 100,000 people, San Pedro Sula, a mere 112 miles from Tegucigalpa, boasts the world’s top ranking as the most violent city, according to a report by Business Insider. Proximity to San Pedro Sula offered myriad types of injuries, typically administered by machete to unsuspecting local workers and bystanders, that challenged the MEDRETE team.

"Our doctors worked on one patient who had no skin on his arm because of his injury; the soft tissue was exposed,” Deehl said. “So they took a flap (of skin) off of his hip and they sewed his arm to his hip so the skin could grow back. I’ve never been in an operating room before that MEDRETE so I saw all kinds of stuff.”

Another challenge the team faced was an English-Spanish language barrier. Only two of the 19 team members spoke Spanish. Deehl used as much conversational Spanish as she could to help. "I can speak half-Spanish,” she chuckled. “The rest of the team did whatever they could to make people understand. That was difficult."

Despite security concerns, handled expertly by JTF-Bravo, and the language barrier, the team successfully treated more than 50 patients. The universal language of pain, coupled with some obvious trauma associated with the injuries helped the team mitigate difficulties in the operating room. “This has been my fifth MEDRETE to Honduras, and it still amazes me how the team comes together in a short period of time to overcome any challenges that we face,” said Cho. “By working closely with the host nation surgeons and staff, we were able to overcome scheduling and equipment issues.”

Many of the patients seen by the team lived outside the city limits of Tegucigalpa. They were workers and laborers who might have had their injuries for years, languishing with them due to the lack of funds or transportation. After treatment, many of the patients would make the trek back to the MEDRETE team to simply say thank you.

"Having them come to the hospital and just say thank you, knowing this is going to change their lives and restore function and quality of life, it was very rewarding," said Deehl.

The MEDRETE team worked dawn to dusk, sharing the load every step of the way. "I was extremely proud to see how hard every Soldier and Airman worked and how well they worked together," offered Deehl. "Everybody got together and we all did the work until it was done.”

As for the rallying point of the oath; "It was like being deployed," said Deehl.