Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"October 24, 2003
Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"
October
24, 2003
Story by Pfc. Chris Jones
AVGANI, Iraq (Army News Service) -- A 101st Airborne lieutenant travels along a rutted road to the Avgani Primary Health Care Center, a postwar aid station he helped renovate.
The convoy rumbles down the road and passes a pair of Iraqi contractors shoveling dirt. A tall lieutenant in the middle vehicle leans over and fixes his eyes on the workers.
"You know, those guys work all-day nonstop," he says. "I see them in the chow hall sweeping and mopping. It must be hard being in there and not being able to chow down. Tomorrow, I’m going to invite them to come and eat."
Turning back in his seat, 1st Lt. Michael Lefler, a West Point Class of 2000 graduate who considers himself softhearted for the strong-hearted, said, "Yeah, they’re gonna chow down."
Lefler is the executive officer of Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). He left his dwelling at "The Fort," which lodges parts of the 101st’s 187th Infantry Regiment, to visit his second-home at the clinic.
"I think it’s the best project in the brigade," Lefler said, referring to the clinic. "I haven’t seen all the projects, but this one is amazing."
Lefler, like many officers in the 3rd Battalion, was given the task of restoring and renovating two clinics in Northern Iraq -- the Avgani center and a smaller clinic in Al Zumar.
"Basically, they [division leaders] handed me $10,000 and said, ‘go,’" Lefler said. "Everyone in the division had their own little projects, and I had mine.
"After the war, I needed something to give me pride, a way to feel needed," he added. "This clinic became my pride, my baby. Now it’s everything to me."
Many of the 62 soldiers in Lefler’s battery became friends with the center’s doctors and patients, but the project was essentially Lefler’s.
At the center, Lefler makes his way down the path. Suddenly, an Iraqi boy emerges from a flock of children and flings his arms around the soldier.
Lefler bends over and the boy kisses him twice on his right cheek. A restrained smile crosses the boy’s face, as if having greeted a long-gone brother.
"He’s mentally handicapped," Lefler explained. "We met a while back and now we’re friends."
Dr. Nahla Kalaf Ali managed the clinic for 15 years. But, he said, before coalition allotments the facility had cracking walls, poor electricity and no bathroom.
"If you had seen this building before, you would have seen a sad place," Fars says. "Now it is a happy place -- too much happy."
The clinic, responsible for roughly 60,000 people, is helped by the Iraqi Ministry of Health in Baghdad. Under the former regime, doctors around the country hardly made enough money to keep food on the table, said Dr. Mohamed Jassim, the former manager of the clinic, who now directs 18 clinics in Northern Iraq.
Before Operation Iraqi Freedom, Jassim says he made just $24 per year. By comparison, the average director of just one clinic in the United States has an average yearly salary of $90,312 and more than $200,000 per year for multiclinic directors such as Jassim, according to salary.com.
As personal as the project has become to Lefler, he said he understands the limitations of the center. However, he added, it’s still much better than before the war.
"Health care was deeply neglected here," Lefler explained. "It’s gotten better, but it’s not even close to where it needs to be.
Lefler said the difference between healthcare in America and healthcare here is staggering.
"I mean, it’s funny to think how many people these clinics are responsible for," he explained. "You don’t think about that in the states, about how much we need medical care, because there are doctors everywhere and most people can get some sort of access to the necessary healthcare.
"Here, a whole village is lucky to have one doctor," he added. "This clinic makes up for all those villages without doctors."
Jassim said the center will help those who can’t get to the hospital.
"[Avgani] is too far from Mosul," he said. "Sick people cannot go from here to the hospital in Mosul when they need to. If they break a bone, they will need medical attention immediately.
"This clinic can treat a broken leg now, because of the money coalition forces gave us," Jassim added. "We can now provide the early medical treatment necessary."
Editor’s note: Jones is part of the 40th Public Affairs Detachment.