Photo By 1st Lt. Jonathan Padish | Prescription eyeglass lenses sit inside a drawer at the Sikeston Head Start in...... read more read more
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SIKESTON, Mo. (June 15, 2019) — Sailors assigned to Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Va. deployed to Sikeston in support of Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corporation Tri-State Innovative Readiness Training 2019.
The Sailors are fabricating prescription eyeglasses for community members who undergo vision screenings performed by military optometrists at temporary clinics in Sikeston, Barlow, Ky. and Cairo, Ill.
According to U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Travis Rister, a hospital corpsman assigned to NWS Yorktown, NOSTRA fabricates eyeglasses for U.S. Department of Defense personnel, seeing upwards of 2,000 people per day.
During DAEOC Tri-State IRT 2019, the Sailors’ mission is slightly different.
“Here, we’re fabricating for the medically underprivileged community,” said Rister. “There’s a little bit of a different feeling.”
The nature of the mission provides an opportunity for the Sailors to expand their experience.
“We get the opportunity to go on IRT missions to get a little bit more field experience,” said Rister. “You never know what’s going to come your way. A lot of it is on the fly and adapting to get the job done.”
Although the IRT mission is different from the one at NWS Yorktown, its impact on the community is still felt by the Sailors.
“We get to travel around the country and help out a lot of people,” said U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Santiago Ortiz, a hospital corpsman assigned to NWS Yorktown. “It’s really nice.”
Other Sailors similarly found the unique nature of the IRT mission worthwhile.
“As rewarding as it is for the community to receive glasses, it’s just as rewarding for us to fabricate the glasses for them,” said Rister.
DAEOC Tri-State IRT 2019 is a joint service medical training exercise that leverages military and community resources to provide military training to service members and, as an added benefit, no-cost medical services to community members.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.15.2019 17:10 |
| Story ID: | 327726 |
| Location: | SIKESTON, MISSOURI, US |
| Hometown: | YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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