Johnson made a total of nine trips to Kosovo between February 2000 and June 2002. His later visits were as much to train local health care providers in TFT as to treat additional patients. The follow-up information on approximately 75 percent of the people he worked with during his first five visits came primarily from physicians who had identified traumatized individuals from their practices and participated as translators in the initial TFT treatments. Since they continued to care medically for the individuals, they were able to provide follow-up on the TFT sessions. Their reports consistently suggested that once a memory had been cleared of its emotional charge, it remained clear, though other memories might subsequently be presented for treatment. The initial session, however, appeared to have durably neutralized the hyperarousal to the traumatic memories that were identified along with producing marked improvement in overall coping and sense of well-being. Reports of these outcomes came to the attention of the chief medical officer of Kosovo (the equivalent of the U.S. Surgeon General), Dr. Skkelzen Syla (himself a psychiatrist), who investigated them and subsequently stated in a letter of appreciation on January 21, 2001: