Patti Taylor, a nurse at the UCLA Medical Center, is no stranger to injuries sustained in battle ““ as an Army nurse, she was on active duty for 29 years.
But recently, Taylor encountered a patient who prompted her to become more personally involved. Cpl. Aaron Mankin of the United States Marine Corps sustained devastating burns in Iraq, but a new program between UCLA and a military hospital brought him to California for facial reconstructive surgery.
“He has relentless spirit,” said Taylor, Mankin’s case manager within the program. “He still has a great love for his country and his fellow soldiers. … He has never given up. That’s what I admire the most about him.”
To show support for Mankin and other soldiers, Taylor and her quilting group presented Mankin with a red, white and blue quilt.
Though it may seem a unique gesture, Taylor sees it as the continuation of an established tradition.
“Quilts for wounded soldiers have a very long history. They go back as far as Florence Nightingale bringing quilts to wounded soldiers,” she said.
But more importantly, presenting the quilt to Mankin is a way to show the community’s support for soldiers’ service, she added.
“Sometimes we forget that we are a nation at war. … These young men are volunteers, and we cannot give up on them,” she said. “These young people give up so much, so much of their life, and I want them to know that we care, that the community cares.”
Mankin was severely burned in Iraq, and was transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. But UCLA officials had begun working with that hospital to bring some wounded soldiers to the university for specialty services, and Mankin became the first participant in the program.
He has already undergone many surgeries, including procedures to rebuild his nose and lips, and will have many more over the course of the coming months, said Amir Rubin, the Medical Center’s chief operating officer.
“It takes a real team of specialists, and that’s what we have at UCLA,” Rubin said.
He added that the UCLA program is the only one of its kind in the country right now.
Rubin said he believes personal investment is key to the success of the program.
“What makes the UCLA health system so special is the incredible people we have, and Patti is one of them,” he said. “They have the commitment to make a difference ““ make a difference one-on-one, and make a difference in the organization.”
Taylor, who has been working closely with Mankin since he first entered the program, said she quickly developed a bond with and respect for the Marine.
“After his consultation, we sat out in a little garden and he said, “˜I didn’t think there was any hope left for me,'” Taylor said of her first meeting with Mankin. “He was doing it all for his daughter, that his daughter wouldn’t (be embarrassed about) the way her father looked.”