Medical technician in war can’t get licensed in Wisconsin

Nicole Moore holds a girl who she had as a patient while in Afghanistan. The girl had fallen on a piece of metal and it went through her eye. Moore, who is from Poynette, said she grew close to her and was happy to see her discharged from the hospital in good shape.

She remembers walking to the gym at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, some 45 miles north of Kabul, when the base’s siren suddenly went off.

Everything else that happened on the morning of Feb. 27, 2007, is pretty much a blur, said 23-year-old Nicole Moore of Poynette, who was serving as an Air Force emergency medical technician at the time.

Within seconds, Moore found herself at the scene of one of the deadliest suicide bombings of the Afghanistan war. The bomber had somehow gotten inside the base’s heavily guarded front gate and then blew himself up — killing 23 people and injuring more than 20 others in an attack that many believe was aimed at Vice President Dick Cheney, who was visiting the base that day.

Moore, who’d arrived at Bagram just two months earlier, said she was stunned by the devastation the blast had caused. Limbs and other body parts were scattered everywhere, and screams of horror filled the air.

“It was crazy, but you couldn’t think about that,” said Moore, a 2002 graduate of Poynette High School. “You just had to concentrate on your job. You couldn’t afford to lose your focus.”

Two of the victims Moore tended to that day died. One was an 8-year-old boy whose intestines were hanging out of his body as Moore and a doctor worked in vain to save him. The other was a civilian contractor from the United States who eventually bled to death.

Moore had a lot of grim days during her five-month stint at Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram, the largest trauma center in Afghanistan, where her duties included those of a typical LPN. While she said she’s proud of her service, she admitted being relieved when her tour ended and she returned to Travis Air Force Base in California in May 2007.

“It was definitely humbling,” she said. “And after it was over, I had such an extreme appreciation for America and how good we have it. It was a real eye-opener for me.”

It left such an impression that Moore decided she wanted to become an LPN in the private sector and devote the rest of her life to caring for others. Unfortunately, those plans recently hit a snag, Moore said.

Upon returning to California, Moore was allowed to take the state’s nursing board exams — which she passed with flying colors, because California allows nursing candidates to substitute military education and experience for college credits.

However, when she moved back to Poynette early this year, she was shocked to learn that her license won’t transfer to Wisconsin. Not only that, but the Wisconsin Board of Nursing won’t even allow her to take the nursing boards because she hasn’t graduated from a board-approved school of nursing.

“I was very disappointed, naturally,” said Moore, who is enrolled at Madison Area Technical College, which has a two-year wait to get into its LPN program. “I feel I have a lot to offer, a lot of experience I could bring to the job. I’m adaptable and I’ve worked under pressure.”

After graduating from the EMT program at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, Moore went through seven months of medical training at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. Then she headed off to Afghanistan, where she treated both military and local trauma victims — including members of the Taliban. She served 5 1/2 years in the military, from 2002 to January 2008.

“If I can practice nursing on our soldiers and as a civilian in California, why isn’t that good enough for Wisconsin?” she said. “Especially when there’s such a critical nursing shortage.”

Sgt. Melissa Martinez, who worked alongside Moore in the ER at Bagram and is now stationed at Travis, agreed.

“I think Wisconsin officials need to do a little research and find out what a medical technician in the military does on a day-to-day basis — especially overseas — and compare that to a regular LPN who works in a hospital,” Martinez said. “Because being in a war situation, you experience so much more than any civilian nurse.”

Martinez said that besides working intense 12-hour shifts and getting few days off during her five months in Afghanistan, Moore was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for saving the life of a young Army officer who’d collapsed and gone into cardiac arrest while working out at the Bagram gym.

So for anyone to suggest that Moore isn’t qualified to be an LPN is nonsense, Martinez said.

Kim Nania, division administrator of board services for the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, disagreed.

Nania said each state board has its own criteria, and just because California’s allows military vets without a degree from an accredited nursing school to takes its boards doesn’t mean Wisconsin should follow suit.

The military, she said, trains people to meet its specific needs. “And not all military training is substantially equivalent to what’s required in order to become a nurse,” she said. “And please remember the words substantially equivalent, because that’s the piece that’s very important. Because you need to know you’ve gotten all of the training — not just a piece of it or three-quarters of it — that is deemed necessary.”

Nania said some military schools offer excellent training and are accredited. Many others, however, fall far short.

Nania said it’s unfortunate that there’s a two-year waiting list to get into MATC’s LPN program. But she suggests that Moore check out the online nursing program at Excelsior College of New York, which not only is accredited but often grants credit for military experience.

Thanks but no thanks, said Moore, who’s decided to finish the year at MATC and then transfer to UW-Madison’s RN program — even though it means she’ll spend the next four years basically relearning what she already knows. She’ll work minimum-wage jobs to help pay her bills.

“I’m certainly not giving up on nursing, because I love it,” she said.

But it’s exasperating, she said, knowing that she’s proven herself in the most demanding, high-pressure situations imaginable — and yet Wisconsin officials say that’s not good enough. Then in the next breath, Moore said, they’ll complain about the nursing shortage.

“I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t make sense.”

From the “PORTAGE DAILY REGISTER“

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From: http://militarymotivator.blogspot.com/

NATIONAL CALL TO SERVICE (NCS) UPDATE ++READ++

Additional opportunities for NCS extensions will be offered between now and the end of FY-08.

Any NCS Hospital Corpsman in receipt of orders or with a current EAOS requiring them to report to a Naval Reserve Activity prior to 30 September 2008, regardless of unit assignment, NEC, or previous request disapproval, may submit or resubmit a Personnel Action Request (NAVPERS 1306/7) requesting 24 month extension on active duty to BUPERS 329D.

Submit scanned requests directly to PSC Herron at mark.herron@navy.mil.

April Scuttlebutt

The April 2008 edition of Scuttlebutt is now available for your reading pleasure
April 2008 Scuttlebutt

24th Marines Moving into Afghanistan NBC NEWS CLIP.

Naval Medicine Training Command (NMTC) Fort Sam Houston, Commissioned

I know, I know.. This happend in Feb. Qute a few folks didn’t know about it though, so to keep everyone up in current events, especially if your up for a BJOQ, JSOQ, or SOQ board etc.. This is good info to know in case your asked.

Navy Medicine’s Newest Command

By, Navy Medicine Support Command PAO

FT. SAM HOUSTON, Texas – The largest consolidation of service training in DOD history moved a step closer to completion Feb. 29 with the commissioning of the Navy Medicine Training Center (NMTC) here.

NMTC will support inter-service education and training as the Navy service element command for the joint-service enlisted Medical Education Training Campus (METC), scheduled to open between 2010 and 2011.

“We are committed to one integrated inter-service education and training system that leverages the assets of all DOD health-care practitioners,” said Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson Jr., Surgeon General of the Navy and the METC commissioning ceremony guest speaker. “We must continue to build on our previous successes. This is the right thing to do.”

Navy Capt. Greg Craigmiles, NMTC commanding officer, also addressed the need for change.
“We live in turbulent times, and never before has response to change been more important,” Craigmiles said during the ceremony. “The movement and co-location of all tri-service medical training to Fort Sam Houston will be a huge undertaking during the next three years, and we will be working shoulder to shoulder with our Army and Air Force colleagues to prepare Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen to save lives and take care of people.”

The majority of existing Navy enlisted medical education training programs is scheduled to move to San Antonio as part of the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) initiative, said Cmdr. Chris Garcia from the tri-service METC Transformation and Integration Office. The BRAC requires Navy and Air Force medical enlisted training courses relocate to Ft. Sam Houston. Commands moving include the Naval School of Health Sciences (NSHS) San Diego; NSHS Portsmouth, Va.; and the Naval Hospital Corps School (NHCS) Great Lakes, Ill. Army and Air Force programs moving here include the Army’s histopathology training program at the Armed Forces Institute at Walter Reed in Washington, DC; and the Air Force’s 82nd Training Group at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The first Navy students are scheduled to begin training in the new facilities in May 2010. Garcia said the target date for all Navy students to train at Ft. Sam Houston is prior to Sept. 15, 2011, the BRAC deadline. The student load will phase in as the new facilities are completed.

The average daily student load will be about 9,000 Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen in 2011 when the integration is complete, Garcia said, making METC the world’s largest military medical education and training institution. Of the 9,000 enlisted students, approximately 1/3 – 2,900 – are expected to be Navy. The Army average daily student load is expected to be about 4,900, and the Air Force about 1,200.

There will be five new instructional facilities ranging in size from 50,000-245,000 square feet. The new facility housing the Hospital Corps program will be the largest. NMTC and the Air Force service element will be housed together in a new two-story building with NMTC occupying the first floor that includes a traditional Navy quarterdeck. There will be three new dormitories constructed – two for Navy students and one for Air Force – and a new dining facility is being built.

Garcia said a variety of the courses will be taught in an integrated environment, with members of all three services attending. There will also be service-unique classes.

Craigmiles pointed out that US military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing the lowest battle mortality and disease non-battle injury rates in history, due in large part to exceptional military medical personnel and their training.

“The training we deliver to our Corpsmen and Medics will save lives on the battlefield,” he said. “Therefore, we must continue to provide the best possible support to our Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen in all aspects of their training and development.”

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