FORT STEWART, Ga. - Private Andrea M. Shaw's workday at the North Troop Medical Clinic dawns early.
While most Soldiers are rousing themselves from the night's slumber, Shaw said she is reporting to physical training at 5 a.m. alongside fellow combat medics completing their first three-month rotation at the newly opened facility, located in the "Vanguard" complex on Fort Stewart, Ga.
Private Shaw, a Kingstree, S.C., native assigned to Company C, 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division, said working in the North TMC since the clinic opened for business, June 4, has been an educational and fulfilling experience.
Private Shaw said a big part of what has made working at the facility great is that because she works alongside "Vanguard" medics and the Soldiers she sees primarily come from units within 4IBCT, and she is able to form stronger relationships with her patients.
"It is awesome idea to have a clinic specifically for Fourth Brigade," Pvt. Shaw said. "[It] helps us to be able to form more personal relationships with our patients--we get to know them better [and] take care of them better, [and] they learn to trust us."
Private First Class Nathan J. Sigrist, a combat medic from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 4IBCT, also on rotation at the TMC, said treating Soldiers he knows cuts down on the time [Soldiers] have to spend at the facility.
Because he is still accessible to the Soldiers in his unit, the Finksburg, Md., native said Soldiers often share their past history and current medical needs before they come in, which allows him to get the Soldiers on the right track to treatment faster.
Private Shaw and Pfc. Sigrist said another benefit that has come from working at the North TMC is the amount of information they have been able to learn from fellow medics and the physician's assistants they work under.
"I think these rotations are very effective," Pvt. Shaw said. "When we go through our medical training at Fort Sam Houston [we mainly focus on learning the] trauma side of things. Here [we focus] on the clinical side … so that we're better able to take care of you guys."
Private First Class Sigrist said he recently learned from a physician's assistant how to properly perform percussions on the spleen, something he wouldn't have been able to learn just working at his unit's aid station. He said he may do sutures one day and learn something about physical therapy the next.
Private First Class Sigrist said he and fellow medics are also learning valuable skills during sergeant's time training on Thursdays.
"Right now we're starting from [the] bottom up, which is musculoskeletal stuff," Pfc. Sigrist said. "We … [learned how] you can figure out what's wrong with someone's [foot, knee or hip] just by the way they walk."
Private Shaw said the final benefit of working at the North TMC--which houses primary care, behavioral health care, optometry, physical therapy, laboratory, radiological and dental services all under one roof--is that patients are provided with a continuum of care from one service to the next.
"That makes it much easier … for the patients," Pvt. Shaw said. I've [had] many of them tell me that they appreciate having all of [the types of care] here together--it's way more convenient."
Private Shaw said working at the North TMC has helped her fulfill her dream--which sprouted when she was 6 years old--of working in the medical field, and said she'd love to work at the clinic for longer periods of time.
"We get three months on rotation, and I wish it were more because this is an awesome experience for me," Pvt. Shaw said. "I love every minute of it."
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