Col. Worthe S. Holt, Jr.

I was invited to attend a dinner at the Indianapolis Aero Club tonight.  The guest speaker tonight was Col. Holt, of the Indiana Air National Guard.  He is not only a fighter pilot (F4 Phantom, F-16 Falcon) but also an Executive Vice President of St. Vincent Hospitals here in Indiana.  It isn’t often that you get hear stories about flying over Iraq.  More rare is the opportunity to hear the same speaker talk about the great work the medical staff does in “the Sandbox”.  Col. Holt shared pictures of the tent city he was stationed at and the medical facility they erected in the middle of nowhere.  It was fascinating to hear him talk about how the military handles trauma care in tents and compare that to the trauma care provided in proper facilities built for that specific purpose stateside.  So, as a thank you to Col. Holt, and to honor the people he says deserves all the credit – I APPLAUD those who are serving overseas and doing a magnificent job!  THANK YOU!

On a personal note – it was interesting to hear that once a soldier patient is stable enough for transport that they are sent to Germany first.  Why is that so interesting, you may ask?  Well, the same facility they are sent to is where my first daughter was born while I was stationed in Germany.  Landstuhl Medical Center will always be a special place for me.  The staff there did a great job with an emergency delivery of someone very special to my wife and I.