Smiles reward medics on humanitarian tour

Published June 11, 2012
By Maj. Jessica Martin, 926th Group Public Affairs and Capt. Elizabeth Magnusson, 944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic -- Forty-seven Citizen Airmen from the Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard put smiles on the faces of more than 10,000 patients in this island nation in May.

The Airmen worked up to 15 hours a day for two weeks to provide non-stop medical, dental and optical care during the Medical Humanitarian Tour.

"There was a certain synergy between all of the members that made this operation a success," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Alfred Rossum, physician for the 944th Medical Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and commander of the Medical Humanitarian Tour."The integration of all of the units and squadrons was seamless."

The call for help came from U.S. Southern Command to Air Force Reserve Command, as part of a program set up to identify and help regions in need. AFRC fulfills two to three of these types of missions each year, fostering goodwill and ensuring the proficiency and skill set of its members.

"When you have to deploy more than 40 people in many different Air Force specialty codes, you never know how it will turn out," said Senior Master Sgt. Anthony Simmons, 944th MS first sergeant. "I was very pleased with the combined effort of all of the Airmen. They operated seamlessly as if they had worked together for years. It was truly a combined effort of professionals that met the challenge head on."

In addition to the 944th MDS, the Airmen came from the following units:

926th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nev.
934th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, Minneapolis St. Paul Air Reserve Station, Minn.
927th ASTS, MacDill AFB, Fla.
476th Aerospace Medicine Flight, Moody AFB,Ga.
163rd Medical Group, March Air Reserve Base, Calf.
419th MDS, Hill AFB, Utah,
910th MDS, Youngstown ARS, Ohio,
514th ASTS, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
Headquarters AFRC, Robins AFB, Ga.

The Americans received the opportunity to conduct a joint mission with the Dominican Republic's Air Force, Forces Air Dominica. They worked with their host service, which provided security, transportation, overnight supply security, translators and additional medical providers to help with the overwhelming patient load.

"The Dominican Republic military personnel were so enthusiastic about having us that they went out of their way to make us feel comfortable," Simmons said. "They opened our visit with a military ceremony and ended the two-week mission with a very nice closing ceremony complete with a military band and a friendly game of softball."

The Airmen saw patients at four separate schools throughout Puerto Plata. Each school had to be transformed into a temporary clinic. At each location, the team set up medical, dental, optometry and pharmacy work areas and operated according to their specialties.

"Our medical team had two pediatricians, four general medicine physicians and one local general medicine doctor," said Rossum. "Additionally, the medical staff had four nurses and eight medical technicians."

The medical services were subdivided into four components. A nurse managed triage, medical technicians ran vitals and other personnel took care of general medicine and pediatrics. The team saw more than 3,140 adults and about 1,500 children for a average patient case load of about 330 patients a day.

"The patient flow began with each patient being assessed at triage then processing through to vital signs and finally patients were referred to either pediatrics or general medicine," Rossum said. "Once patients were diagnosed, they were sent to the pharmacy to receive their prescriptions."

Patients who needed more in-depth care were referred to the local partnering health providers who were present at all four treatment sites. These providers coordinated medical services that were beyond the Air Force team's capabilities.

During the intake and triage of the patients, the nursing staff also took the opportunity to provide public health and hygiene counseling.

"Our dental team had three Air Force Reserve and one Air National Guard dental officer with three Air Force Reserve dental technicians," said Rossum. "We also had at least one local dentist onsite. They really provided a great help with the difficult extractions and translations."

Although only a handful of team members were fluent in Spanish, the other team members rapidly learned common Spanish phrases, which significantly helped with patient communication.

"They have nowhere to go for needs like dental and optometry care," said Maj. Zachary Timko, 926th AMDS and senior administrator for the trip. "The mission gives you a completely different perspective on what we have in the United States, what we take for granted."

With little access or availability to facilities, local citizens stood in line for hours to be seen. The dental team saw 656 patients during its 15-day stay and conducted more than 825 tooth extractions. One in four of the dental patients were under 12 years of age.

"People waited from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to see a dentist. Who in our country would do that?" asked Timko. "It's a luxury to them, not a need like it is for us in the United States. When you're talking about the hierarchy of needs - food, water, shelter - being able to see 20/20 is not on that list.

The optometry team consisted of three optometrists and one ophthalmic technician.

"Our optometry team was extremely busy and had to request a local optometrist join them to keep up with the demand," said Rossum. "With the overwhelming requests for optometry services, an optometry triage was set up and initiated.

"We had an optometry and medical technician set up to conduct the basic vision testing," he continued. "If a patient's vision was adequate, or only required reading glasses, the patient was given sunglasses and/or readers, and the patient contact completed. This really allowed the technicians to triage patients requiring optometrist care and those only requiring basic exams."

The team saw more than 3,235 optometry patients and handed out more than 2,380 pairs of glasses. The glasses were donated by the Lions Club's Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation. The donations included a wide range of adult single-vision glasses, bi-focals, near-vision prefabricated reading glasses and glasses for children.

"The final piece to the team was the pharmacy section. It was staffed with a pharmacist, a pharmacy tech, a medical tech, an administrative tech and three interpreter volunteers."

Rossum give a lot of credit to the pharmacy's success to Maj. Brian Sydnor from the Regular Air Force's 56th Medical Group at Luke AFB.

"He provided a pharmacy diagram and prescription templates with pre-packing and labeling that really helped facilitate the dispensing process significantly," Rossum said. "It allowed for a smooth dispensing operation as they dispensed over 9,800 prescriptions during the two weeks."

"Our members received valuable hands-on training for the care they provided," added Simmons. "But the experience of taking care of people who are less fortunate will be an unforgettable mission in all of our careers."

One member in particular who had previously been on a Dominican Republic mission plans to seek out future opportunities.

"Participating in a humanitarian (project) is a very humbling and rewarding experience," said Staff Sgt. Laura Valenzuela, 926th AMDS medical administrative specialist.

"They're hard work and you need to adjust to the surroundings and expect long days. But when you see a smile on your patient's face you just want to keep going," she said.

As part of the closing ceremonies and as a thank you to the schools for hosting the clinics, members of the humanitarian team purchased baseball equipment, which was presented by Tech Sgt. Henry Ruiz, 944th Medical Squadron diet therapy tech, to the children from the schools.

"The people of the Dominican Republic touched the hearts and minds of all of us," Rossum said. "It was an experience we will not forget."