Keesler surgical residents return to Navy hospital

Published March 16, 2009
By Rod Duren
Naval Hospital Pensacola

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Keesler Medical Center surgical residency program has returned to the arena of joint military service with Navy medicine in Northwest Florida with the first of four six-week rotations completed at Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla., in February.

The return of the surgical residency rotation to the Family Medicine teaching hospital in Northwest Florida follows a nearly 4-year absence following the 2005 destructive forces of Hurricane Katrina that shut down the Air Force facility and scattered surgical residents throughout the country.

"There are a number of advantages for both the surgical residents and general surgery staff here at the Navy hospital," said Capt. (Dr.) Joseph DeFeo, Navy surgeon and program director for the Air Force residents.

"There's lots of patients -- as many as 10 (surgical cases) a week for a total of about 60, which is probably more than they'd be getting at Keesler," Capt. DeFeo said. "It will keep the surgical staff on our toes, too, having to think currently in a teaching role."

The Pensacola facility has been a family medicine residency teaching hospital since 1972.

Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Dan Wyman, 81st Medical Group commander, said that "the return of Keesler Medical Center surgical residents to Naval Hospital Pensacola marks another milestone in Keesler's comeback to pre-Katrina operations.

"It also exemplified the spirit of cooperation between the two services," he continued. "We look forward to continuing this partnership and the benefits it provides to both medical centers."

The addition of the surgical residency will "upgrade the functions of training residents," said Captain DeFeo, "from a camaraderie perspective, to giving both of us joint (military training) exposure."

The first of the Air Force surgical residents, Capt. (Dr.) Charles Woodham, just completed his six-week rotation in Pensacola.

"My rotation at Naval Hospital Pensacola has, to this point, been my best operative experience as a surgical resident," he said. "Due to the way the rotation is set up, I was able to perform more surgeries, in a shorter period of time, than any other rotation to this point in my program.

"I found that the surgical staff (was) all extremely open, and excited, about my being there," he continued. "As an Air Force officer, I was greeted with respect and openness."

The Air Force surgical residency program at Pensacola was started in 1995 and restarted -- following a drought caused by Hurricane Katrina -- in January with the assistance of retired Navy Capt. (Dr.) John Perciballi, a combat surgeon who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Maj. (Dr.) Valerie Pruitt, head of Keesler's general surgery residency program.

"We met with the people at Keesler to establish the program and it worked well ... until Katrina," Dr. Perciballi said. The Pensacola facility is a "nice community-size hospital that can give plenty of 'bread-and-butter' surgeries to the residents they can't get at larger military medical facilities."

Major Pruitt was an Air Force surgical resident that did rotations at the facility between 1997 and 2002. She's excited about resuming the "tradition of working with the Navy attending surgeons" at Pensacola.

By re-engaging the Navy hospital into the Keesler Medical Center general surgery residency program, "we are creating a joint service training platform (that) truly promotes a joint environment and will lead to betterment of medical support to the warfighter," she continued. "It is imperative our residents learn early in their careers how to interact with all branches of the service," she continued.

"It was one of my favorite rotations as a resident and it seems like Captain Woodham was happy with the experience he had 10 years after mine," she added.

The current Air Force surgical resident at the Pensacola hospital is Capt. (Dr.) Chad Edwards, a former flight paramedic who began the surgical residency program at Pensacola in February following completion of a clinical research fellowship at Keesler last year in his general surgery training.

"The experience has been outstanding," Capt Edwards said. "The willingness of the staff surgeons to help at every step has been amazing. Each attending surgeon takes time to help with every facet of surgical care.

"Through their insight from years of practice, I feel that each case provides so much more than mere operative experience", he continued. "My time here will have a positive and lifelong influence on the way that I will practice surgery."

USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez)