Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/447803
12 • Medical Profile h&W: What types of patients did you treat in Germany? porritt: We dealt with all of the war trauma patients and overseas service members. I also had an elective practice that was mainly sports m e d i c i n e f o r t h e s e r v i c e m e m b e r s t h e r e , particularly the expeditionary marines and the special-forces units. h&W: Orthopedic surgeons have become pivotal frontline surgeons today; why? porritt: If we can get patients to a surgical level of resuscitation within three hours, it dramatically increases their life expectancy. In order to do that, we've taken orthopedic and general surgeons and put them farther forward in the battle zone rather than take severely wounded patients, stick them on a helicopter, and fly them back to a hospital. That's the type of elite unit I was in. We were a mobile, highly-specialized, small unit that that would deploy out of a helicopter or airplane and move forward. Dr. Eric Porritt MeeT THe docTor orTHoPedic surgeon norTH suBurBan MedicaL cenTer Dr. Porritt brings a rare background to the NSMC orthopedic department. After serving in the Army National Guard in college, he took an active-duty scholarship for medical school. He was then stationed in Germany for three years, where he treated trauma patients at a major military medical center. He also worked as a warzone surgeon in Afghanistan.