UCLA Medical Center works with Texas Army hospital to treat wounded soldiers

Operation Mend, a new partnership between UCLA Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, has been established to help treat U.S. military personnel wounded during service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The pilot program was launched with the help of philanthropist Ronald A. Katz, a UCLA Medical Center board member.

Katz recognized that providing care to injured soldiers need not be limited to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Armed Services.

The partnership project aims to serve as a model for other medical institutions interested in helping additional wounded service members.

The project's first patient, Marine Cpl. Aaron Mankin, 25, recently arrived at UCLA, two years after he was injured by an explosive device in Iraq.

Mankin had suffered burns over 25 percent of his body and his face was severely disfigured.

At UCLA he began a series of facial reconstructive surgeries that will take several months to complete.

The surgeries will be led by Dr. Timothy Miller, chief of reconstructive and plastic surgery at UCLA, who is also a military veteran.

UCLA clinical nurse specialist and former Army nurse Pricilla "Patti" Taylor led a community group of military veterans in creating several quilts of valor to be presented to arriving soldiers.

Taylor has volunteered to serve as Mankin's case manager and will help coordinate the Marine's care at the medical center.