|
GRMC Soldier Prepares For Tour of Duty
The Army teaches its soldiers forward-thinking, planning ahead, being prepared and it's this training that Occupational Therapist Larissa Coon thinks was the most valuable as she prepared to leave her home, career and family for her tour of duty in Iraq that began March 24.
"I explained to my kids that I would miss their birthdays, but told them that I would be here for the ones after that," Larissa said.
Those thoughts of looking ahead and not focusing on what she will be missing were the ones Larissa kept in mind as the days got closer to her departure. She made sure her family was taken care of and even taught her young son and daughter how to do laundry.
"Oh yeah, they thought that was really exciting," she said. "Making sure we have a family plan in place, a support system for the kids that is what I have been focusing on."
Larissa's mother from Windsor, Colo., will move to Goodland while the kids are still in school in order to help out Larissa's husband Lowell. Larissa's orders indicate that she will be in Iraq for 400 days; however, her service is at the discretion of the United States Army. Her tour of duty could be extended or shorten depending on the needs of the Army.
"I think it's hard for the kids to comprehend how long I will be away," she said. "My son just wants me to bring him back something neat."
She has been assigned to the 1835th Medical Detachment based in Aurora, Colo., and will be located somewhere in Iraq. While in Iraq, Larissa's job assignment is Combat Stress Control. Her job will be to provide counseling services to the soldiers who have seen some of the worse combat or who are currently in a combat zone. She will help determine if the soldiers need transfer, what services they need or will need in the future.
"I will mostly be offering preventative care," Larissa explains. "We will offer the services they need to prevent them from having to come home. The goal is to provide the services as immediate to the event as possible to minimize the impact on their life skills."
Although much of what Larissa does at Goodland Regional Medical Center involves physical rehabilitation, much of what she will do in Iraq will involve psychological evaluation and rehabilitation. She explained that occupational therapy involves coping with both the physical and psychological impacts on life skills.
The unit providing these services prior to Larissa's unit had set up a make-shift coffee shop and wrote home asking for coffee, tea and baked items. They also made medical missions out into the small towns and villages around their unit.
"I'm looking forward to doing that kind of work," Larissa said. "It sounds like there is a lot of potential and I think we will see anybody that needs help."
Larissa has been in the Army for 13 years, mostly recently serving in the Army Reserves, and has attained the rank of Major. Much of her training, in Hawaii and Germany, has been in a hospital setting. Although her latest training, for approximately past three weeks at Fort Hunter-Liggett, Calif., was to prepare her for the duties of a soldier in a combat zone. Larissa admits that all the training probably has not fully prepared her for the long hours of down-time she will experience. But she is planning ahead.
"Somebody once said that war was long hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror," Larissa said. "I've packed lots of books to read, lots of movies and I have lots of travel games and cards. Hopefully that will fill the down-time for a while."
Larissa has worked at Goodland Regional Medical Center a little more than two years. She completed her Masters in Occupational Therapy online from Boston University shortly after she began working in Goodland. She has been a very important member of the Medical Center's Safety Committee and helped to reduce work place injuries and increase staff awareness of safety issues resulting in a reduction of the hospital's worker's compensation insurance expenses. Her co-workers and the many patients she works with will miss her while she is away; however, she has promised to keep in touch through email and said she will enjoy receiving mail from home.
 |
