Eager to build on team events at the school, “Rick and I completed a lot of research, which ultimately led us to TeamSTEPPS,” Kevin says of Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety, a program from the O ut in the field, Kevin Fitzpatrick (pictured above) marveled at the level of care that military physicians were providing to people in Afghanistan. % K evin met his wife, Amber, an Army veteran, in Afghanistan. Amber is currently a physician assistant student at the Rutgers School of Public Health. Although they are not in the same classes or even schools, the Fitzpatricks help each other study. % Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. “We still have a lot of work to do to incorporate this into the curriculum, but we have had outstanding faculty advisers along the way and support for the project keeps growing.” Kevin is no stranger to teaming up with fellow veterans. He met his wife, Amber, an Army veteran, in Afghanistan. A current physician assistant student at the Rutgers School of Public Health, she had already been discharged and was working on intelligence for a private contractor when they met. The two bonded and, while in the desert, talked about studying medicine. When Kevin was later deployed back to Germany, Amber visited. They married five years ago. As they discussed graduate school, there was one deal breaker: they would not be separated. Although not in the same classes or even schools, the Fitzpatricks help each other study. “It is fun if you want to come home and talk about school, you have someone who knows what you are talking about,” Amber says. “There have been times when I don’t understand something and Kevin does, and he will explain it to me. If he has a question, he will ask me. It has been really nice.” During his limited time not devoted to studying or being with Amber and their dogs, Kevin rebuilds old motorcycles. Last summer, he finished restoring his father’s 1980 Honda CB400T. It was his first time on a bike in six years. When stationed in Afghanistan, he shipped his bike over and stored it in a warehouse. It was destroyed, along with the belongings of more than 100 military families, when the building was set on fire. Kevin is even-keeled discussing the hardships he faced in Afghanistan, as he is chatting about his family’s future. Kevin is unsure where he will start a residency because it is still too far from his 2019 graduation date to plan seriously. After his training in an emergency room, in an ambulance, and in Afghanistan, Kevin, not surprisingly, is drawn to emergency medicine. The variety of patients in emergency rooms is a lure. “You will have some typical primary care and traumas to deal with, a huge variety,” he says. Amber is also interested in emergency medicine, but she is keeping an open mind as she goes through her clinical rotations. Originally from Texas, she would not mind settling someplace warmer. Both like the idea of being near family, and much of his is in New Jersey. “But as far as the location of residency, if being near family doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen,” Kevin says. “After I am done with residency, we can always move again. Moving is something we are not afraid of after being in the military. If we need to move after a few years to be near family, we can always move again. As long as we’re together, we’ll be fine.” M Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE 7 JOHN EMERSON PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEVIN FITZPATRICK