The Little Hospital That Could - A Personal Recollection of the 24th Medical Group At the Crossroads of History

The book is an evocative description of the two-year effort of a small team of American and Panamanian medical personnel to provide assurance of high-quality medical care to all remaining Active Duty American Service members, their families, diplomatic staffs and contractors in Panama, as well as the Americans doing counter-drug work in Central and South America. They managed operations of a six-thousand-mile aeromedical evacuation area of responsibility. They were a key part of the initial humanitarian response for the people of Honduras following Hurricane Mitch. Located closer to Colombia than New York is to Chicago, the bi-national team successfully brought the U.S. medical presence in Panama started by Gorgas Army Community Hospital to a close in late 1999, following the closure of that large hospital in mid-1997. The recounting of history is combined with a poignant recounting of the unique beauty of Panama.