Abstract
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust was established in 1965 on Sir Winston's death as a national memorial and living tribute to him, and funded by many thousands of people who contributed to a public subscription. This now funds Travelling Fellowships to allow Churchill Fellows to travel abroad and learn lessons that can be brought back to benefit the local community and ultimately the UK as a whole. Both authors were recipients of this prestigious 2009 Fellowship in the category of “Treatment & Rehabilitation of Traumatic Injuries”. Over fifteen weeks we visited hospitals in Germany, Canada, and the USA with expertise in the early care, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the combat casualties of our NATO Allies. We aimed to learn lessons from their experience, exchange ideas and to make contacts. We visited the US military hospital in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, the University of Alberta Hospital and Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and the two major centres of US military care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center/National Naval Medical Center in Washington DC, and the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio Texas. We present our experience from this Fellowship, some of the lessons we have learnt and the problems that we face in common with our NATO allies.
