Former Langley Air Force Base surgeon treated wounded troops near Syria before joining North Carolina hospital

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Despite the threat of attack, former Air Force surgeon Nicole Yeshtokin focused on the soldier bleeding badly in front of her.

An explosive device had blown apart his arm and sliced an artery. In minutes, she inserted a rubber tube into each open end of the artery and stitched it in place. The tubing was not meant for that job, but it was available.

The bleeding stopped and his life saved before he was sent to a hospital for more advanced treatment.

“You hone in on that patient,” she said. “There was not much to work with. You had to be creative – like MacGyver.”

Yeshtokin, 37, worked in a battlefield medical unit on the Syrian border for six months in 2017 as the U.S. military supported the fight against ISIS in Iraq. She treated American and Iraqi troops.

She always kept a pistol strapped on her belt. Special forces troops guarded the compound. An automatic defense weapon detected and destroyed incoming mortar fire.

Her job is quieter and safer now.

Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City hired Yeshtokin in January as a general surgeon. She, her husband and two step-children live in Newport News with plans to move to the Elizabeth City area soon, she said.

Yeshtokin was raised in Massachusetts and had never used a gun.

But with a recruiter’s promise she would not deploy to a combat hospital, she joined the Air Force in 2005. The service promised to pay for the years of medical school and training. In return she served four years as an active duty surgeon from 2014 to 2018. She was assigned to the hospital at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton.

In 2017, she got orders to serve in a Mobile Forward Surgical Team in Iraq.

Yeshtokin qualified on the pistol range. She learned battlefield surgery techniques that allowed her to treat the wounded with limited supplies.

Before she arrived, an explosion had blown a hole in the ceiling of the concrete block building used for surgery. It was a constant reminder of the danger. It didn’t rain, but they had to cover the equipment and clean up after powerful dust storms.

She and her team were briefed each day on how many casualties to expect based on the number and type of missions. When the wounded arrived, they labored long hours until all they were all treated.

Troops were brought in with severe head trauma and limbs lost from explosives. Sometimes they had to make do with what they had such as a rubber tube to reconnect an artery. They carried out whole-blood transfusions where donors give directly to the victim.

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“Soldiers would line up to give,” she said. “It was wonderful.”

The wounded were usually brought in by their fellow fighters who would stay and watch the treatment. She accepted opinions from her team and even from the soldiers as she worked. They did not lose a single soldier while she was there.

It was a long six months, she acknowledged. Her parents were constantly on edge about their daughter’s safety.

Finally, on Christmas Day of 2017, she was on her way home with one last heart-stopping scare. Her plane took off and quickly elevated into a near vertical climb to avoid possible enemy fire.

Yeshtokin made it home safely and exited the Air Force a few months later. She married and worked as a surgeon for two years at a hospital in Franklin, Virginia, before getting the job in Elizabeth City.

“It was a great experience and I’m grateful for it,” she said of her time in Iraq. “But I like it here.”

Jeff Hampton, 757-446-2090, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com