McChord Reservists bring medical equipment to El Salvador

Published April 17, 2012
By Staff Sgt. Rachael Garneau
446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. -- Reservists from the 97th Airlift Squadron left McChord April 14, flying to Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, for a special mission: transporting medical supplies to a children's hospital in El Salvador.

Thanks to the Denton Humanitarian Assistance Program and the 446th Airlift Wing, more than 12,000 pounds of equipment made its way from a warehouse in Cleveland to Hospital Nacional de Ninos Bloom Hospital in San Salvador. This is the 23rd Denton mission for the 446th AW since 2005.

"It's broadened our horizons," said Brian Davis, a boardmember with MedWish International. "The Denton Program, with the Air Force's help, has allowed us to increase our cargo loads, and, in the end, the amount of humanitarian assistance we can give. We can be more specific with our shipments, as opposed to guessing at whether the small amount we could send would actually help the foreign hospitals. Those tiny quantities just don't compare with the larger shipments you can do through the military."

The nearly $10,000 worth of medical equipment was gathered by MedWish in Cleveland from various donors. Gift of Life International, a non-profit organization that regularly works with local Rotary Clubs to support pediatric cardiac missions across the globe, sifted through MedWish's warehouse of donated supplies to find appropriate materials for the Bloom Hospital in El Salvador, which range from monitors and scales, to cribs and warming systems.

At that point, Davis contacted the Denton Program about arranging airlift for the shipment. The Denton Amendment allows the Department of Defense to transport to any country, without charge, supplies which have been furnished by a non-governmental source and which are intended for humanitarian assistance on a space available basis.

This is only the third time their organization has used the Denton Program.

According to Davis, until recently, MedWish had used ocean-going containers or hand-carrying to get supplies to the countries in need. This limited the amount and type of medical equipment they could send. Earlier this year, with the help of the Denton Program and military airlift, MedWish was able to fly the largest shipment in their almost 20-year history to Honduras, to fulfill medical needs there.

Air Force Reserve Command works with their active duty and Air National Guard counterparts to accomplish the transportation of the cargo. AFRC airlift units account for approximately one-third of the movements in this humanitarian assistance program.

Ken Hundemer with Denton operations explains that his organization only goes to El Salvador about once or twice a year, but "approximately 75 percent of everything they move goes to the Southern Command area of operations, including Central and South America and the Caribbean. AFRC flies a percentage of those flights, and it's important for the success of this program."

This is where the 97th AS comes in. A crew of McChord Reservists flew the supplies down to El Salvador, using the flight time as a training opportunity, while maintaining philanthropic support.

For Senior Master Sgt. Dave Kist, a loadmaster on the mission, it wasn't his first humanitarian mission; he's been in the Air Force for more than 35 years. He was, however, being evaluated during the trip, a requirement for each of the crew positions. So, in-flight to El Salvador he was asked questions about the different aircraft systems, and job knowledge, while being assessed on how he performed his job as a loadmaster.

"The main reason for this mission is to provide training, but it's great when we can move equipment and supplies for people, as well," Kist said. "It helps us get more proficient at our jobs and it helps the U.S. in its goodwill gestures to other countries. It's a win-win situation."