The March meeting of the Thomasville Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) featured an enlightening program by Esther Tan, MD. Thomasville Chapter DAR Regent Charlotte Brown introduced the speaker. 

Dr. Tan received a BS degree in Biochemistry from Azusa Pacific University in California and earned a medical degree from the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago. She completed her residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, and a fellowship in Hematology Oncology with the National Capital Consortium at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Tan served in the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of Major. She served as brigade surgeon in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. Her military awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Army Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the NATO Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon. Dr. Tan is a hematologist/oncologist and joined the medical staff of Archbold Medical Center in 2018. She treats patients at the Lewis Hall Singletary Oncology Center and also serves as a clinical assistant professor at the FSU School of Medicine.

Dr. Tan was born and raised in Malaysia. She moved to California in 1993 where she attended high school and college. 

She wanted to serve her country and joined the military while in college. She received the HPSP scholarship and attended medical school in Chicago. After graduation, she was promoted to Captain and did her residency in Internal Medicine at William Beaumont Army Medical Center. During her time there, Dr. Tan took care of active-duty soldiers, veterans, retirees and nonmilitary patients. She did her fellowship in medical oncology and hematology at the National Capital Consortium. At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dr. Tan took care of patients with leukemia. She did rotations at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the National Cancer Institute and Georgetown University. 

Dr. Tan said, “one of the reasons that I joined the military was to care for veterans who have served this country so honorably.” While stationed at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon in Augusta, she was the chief of hematology and oncology. 

In 2013, Dr. Tan was deployed with the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division to Forward Operating Base Shank, Afghanistan. The base is located very close to the border of Pakistan where the Taliban soldiers would train in Pakistan. As brigade surgeon, Dr. Tan was in charge of the health of over 2,500 soldiers and worked closely with the brigade staff, psychologists, social workers, preventive health nurses, Afghan military and other medical personnel.

FOB Shank is about eight miles long and three miles wide. In Afghanistan, there were cold winters with snow and warm, dry summers, almost desert like. There were no lights at night, so it was very dark. Dr. Tan said you didn’t want to attract attention to the base in order to keep rockets and missiles from being fired at them. FOB Shank was also known as Rocket City because the base was rocketed by missile launchers several times a day. The launched rockets would sometimes result in soldiers being injured or killed. 

The American soldiers shared space with Afghan soldiers at Camp Marwan and had separate camps. The base had an airfield for Blackhawk and Apache helicopters and for large aircrafts flown by the U.S. Air Force. The housing and facilities for soldiers at FOB were set up in tents. Food was prepared by non-American civilians from India or Pakistan. Water for showers had to be brought to the base by trucks. Everyone was in full military gear, IOTV vests and Kelvar helmets in case of missile attacks. If the sirens sounded, you would fall to the ground to avoid any shrapnel. 

Dr. Tan said she was in charge of the medical areas and would work on aid stations. There were four levels of medical care in the combat environment based on the need of injuries to soldiers. Level zero is the point of injury with medics caring for patients and transporting them by helicopter to a level one aid station. Surgery would take place in a level two station and level three would be Bagram Air Force Base, which is a larger aid station. At level four, soldiers would go to a hospital in Germany or on to Walter Reed Army Hospital in the U.S. 

Medical supplies used to treat combat injuries and to stop bleeding included tourniquets, bandages, gauze, antibiotics, pain medication, saline bags and oxygen tanks. The goal was to stabilize the patient and transfer them to the higher level of care needed. The medics and soldiers Dr. Tan worked with in Afghanistan were young men and women, 18 years or older. For some, this was their first combat experience taking care of patients. They were enthusiastic and worked very hard. She is still friends with many of them today. 

Dr. Tan took pride in her work in Afghanistan and in helping to train the Afghan medical personnel on caring for their soldiers. She taught them trauma skills, splinting basic life support, tourniquet placement, suturing and stabilizing the patient. She also helped prepare soldiers for their return home that were suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.

After returning from Afghanistan, Dr. Tan worked at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center until 2015 and then entered private practice at Augusta Oncology. In 2018, she moved to Thomasville and joined the medical staff at Archbold Medical Center. 

Dr. Tan is an oncologist and hematologist at the Lewis Hall Singletary Oncology Center. She also does inpatient rounds at Archbold Hospital and works at an outreach clinic in Bainbridge to give chemotherapy. She treats all kinds of cancers including breast, lung, head and neck cancer. As a hematologist, she treats patients with anemia, iron deficiency and other blood disorders. She also participates in community activities including the Pink Affair and 5K Pink Run.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 190,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. More than one million women have joined the DAR since it was founded. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.DAR.org.

For more information about the Thomasville Chapter DAR, visit thomasville.georgiastatedar.org or the Chapter’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ThomasvilleChapterNSDAR.

DAR Photo 1: (L-R) Thomasville Chapter DAR Vice Regent Mary Tomlinson, Esther Tan, MD and Thomasville Chapter DAR Regent Charlotte Brown. Dr. Tan was the guest speaker at the March meeting of the Thomasville Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).