Navy Chief Hospital Corpsmen Belinda Daniels, a member of the Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team, treats an Afghan boy's hand after he was bit by a snake in Nurguram district, July 16. The boy and his father walked for more than four hours to Fo...

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team service members treated a 10-year-old Afghan boy for a snake bite at Forward Operating Base Kalagush in Nurguram district, July 16.

After a snake bit the boy on his hand, his father applied two tourniquets before they walked four hours to receive the medical care from the team.

"When his son came to us he was in a lot of pain and not feeling well," explained Navy Lt. Dominic Romanowski, a physician's assistant with the PRT. The boy also had some numbness in his fingers and was dehydrated

"By the time he left he had regained the feeling in his hand," explained Romanowski.

PRT members, including Romanowski and Navy Lt. Brian Ferguson, also a physician's assistant, treated the boy's symptoms, provided him with juice and water to rehydrate him, and monitored his condition for eight hours to make sure he was stable..

As the pain steadily decreased, and the boy showed no signs of the bite being life threatening, the medical providers provided the boy with antibiotics and Tylenol acquired from the local market.

Before the boy was released, the family was educated on how to treat snake bites and instructed to follow-up with a local Afghan doctor.

"The father was very grateful that we were able to see his son and help him," said Romanowski.