Photo By Douglas Stutz | Britt Feldman, of Naval Base Kitsap Fleet and Family Support Center, helps a family...... read more read more
BREMERTON, Wash. - After the devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake hammered Japan on Mar. 11, 2011, then-Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jerry Wagner from Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) was there to provide needed support 4,784 miles away.
Five years ago, Wagner and other NHB staff members assisted with the arrival of the voluntary authorized departure of eligible family members from Japan on March 21, 2011. There were an estimated 7,000 Department of Defense personnel and family members impacted by the earthquake and associated tsunami.
A military-chartered flight arrived from Naval Air Facility Atsugi at Seattle-Tacoma (SEATAC) international airport with 154 passengers and 21 pets. The Monday flight followed the initial arrival on March 19 that brought approximately 240 military family members to the designated destination, including 190 children and nine pets from Yokota AB.
Personnel from NHB as well as other naval assets from such commands as Naval Base Kitsap (NBK), Navy Region Northwest (NRNW) and Naval Station Everett, helped with the US Army North joint mission, with an established reception and coordination center that received, accounted for and rendered multiple services for the returning family members.
NHB’s rotated staff over that included Family Practice Clinic providers and nurses, Information Management Department technical support, and Patient Administration hospital corpsmen to help in the overall process to get the family members to their final destinations scattered throughout the U.S.
“I was a part of the team that assisted dependents in coordinating their care for their ongoing medical problems or any acute problems that may have occurred during transit after their experience. The dependents had gone through so much already with the historical disaster and were suddenly ripped from their daily routines. Many were in the process of extensive medical treatment or in the need of follow-up care,” said now-Chief Hospital Corpsman Wagner, currently assigned to Naval Hospital Beaufort.
NHB staff assisted with providing military-medical liaison, basic medical needs, any triage requirements and the need to screen anyone for any health-related issues.
For Minerva Aguinaga, traveling from NAF Atsugi with her six-month old daughter Cassandra and another baby on the way, her main concern after the long flight was linking up with a provider at her final destination to assist with checkups during her pregnancy. It was Wagner, then assigned with NHB’s Patient Administration, who seamlessly stepped in to calm her unease. "I am worried about base access and unsure about the entire area where we are going," said Aguinaga.
Wagner, adept in fleet liaison and family consult issues, took her paperwork and ensured her family information would be correctly updated in TRICARE. He then explained how he would arrange contact information and facilitate necessary paperwork for her upcoming appointments. "We made sure she had no problem. That's what we were there for. It is never easy to coordinate care across regions. We established the dependents in different regions and coordinated for their care when they arrived at their final destination. For a majority of the dependents, Seattle was not their final destination,” related Wagner.
Losing access to medical care for family members who arrived from Japan was alleviated by TRICARE Management Activity. Some TRICARE Overseas Prime beneficiaries were unable to access their usual sources of medical care and pharmacy services and to compensate, TRICARE established a waiver of the usual referral requirements in order to ensure access to health-care and medications, and to prevent enrollees from incurring point of service charges.
The Army-led joint service support team also brought in experts from personnel services, logistic and other specialties to streamline and personally manage and address the returnees' needs and required administrative accountability.
NHB staff did take care of some minor medical issues for the first flight such as allergies kicking in and some gastro-intestinal distress but everything was handled and everyone was cared for.
Wagner cited that providing such support did broaden his personal perspective and professional experience. Before being part of the joint service effort at SEATAC to assist primarily military families, he had dealt primarily with active duty. Dependents can be different.
“There are small technical/systematic issues when dealing with dependents that can be show stoppers for them to receive care if not done correctly. Luckily, I was more familiar than most working in Fleet Liaison Office and Patient Administration. I did learn a few more tricks in assisting the dependents though and the experience made me a better corpsman,” Wagner said.
This was one of the most rewarding experiences in my Navy Career. The family members were emotionally and physically exhausted and very appreciative of the access to care that we were able to provide them. The Navy truly is a family and this was one of my first experiences with it on a global scale,” related Wagner.
If there was one distinct group that stood out by the collective long hours of support provided was Naval Base Kitsap’s Fleet and Family Support Center who set up an Emergency Family Assistance Center (EFAC). The EFAC mission offered a consolidated staging area manned by trained staff helping the families handle such concerns as obtaining disaster relief assistance and/or support, current information from leadership, and contingency services.
“Along with our support partner such as the Child Development Center, Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, Red Cross, emergency management, personnel support detachment and others, we were able to assess the needs of the evacuated personnel and assist them with temporary orders, housing, transportation to their safe haven location, emergency cash and donations, child care, and of course amazing support during this difficult time,” said Britt Feldman, Fleet and Family Support Center Director.
The NBK Child Development Center even set up an area dedicated to watch the children so the parents could concentrate on getting checked in, and arranged hands-on support, helping families with everything from rental vehicles to base access to transporting the family pet.
“What an amazing experience and the folks, as tired and stressed as they were, just handled everything with absolute strength. Even the kids,” remembered Feldman, who noted that what still stand out in her memory about that time was how everyone at NBK, NRNW, and NHB came together to help families in need no matter what time and day it was.
“Every single act of kindness from every single person was just amazing. How important it was to help these families whether just talking to them, carrying luggage, walking a dog, and even those who took care of the workers such as USO who fed us sandwiches during our shifts,” Feldman said.
As in any stressful scenario, there were lessons learned, lessons refined, and lessons shared. For Feldman and her FFSC team, they learned that practicing EFAC drills paid off and everyone felt prepared to provide support.
“We continue to practice and refine our standard operating procedures to always be prepared to continue to help when called upon,” stated Feldman, noting that one of the difficult aspects of providing assistance to the families was that when they arrived at SEATAC, it took a while to get organized.
“Things were disorganized at the beginning and we didn't know what folks would need. But each day we learned more and adapted to the needs and were flexible in how we provided support, even if it was to shift some folks to the hotel they were staying at to be there at a moment's notice to help and answer questions,” explained Feldman.
There also were heartwarming moments for Feldman and her staff.
“The gratifying aspect for me was to see how quickly everyone at FFSC wanted to be a part of the EFAC and help, and how easy it was to make folks feel cared for in a difficult and crazy situation. In my 16 years of service this is my number one highlight, and there are many. A proud moment for our team,” said Feldman.
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2016 12:57 |
| Story ID: | 192264 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 150 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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