Kodiak, Ala. – More than 1,800 community members across Kodiak Island received no-cost medical, dental, vision, and veterinary care through the multi-service, interagency readiness training mission Arctic Care, May 9 through 21.
Nearly 300 U.S. uniformed service members supported Arctic Care–one of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training missions–in collaboration with community partner Kodiak Area Native Association, completing 6,540 procedures and saving the community more than $630,000.
“There’s a great partnership between the Guard and the community of Kodiak. Kodiak is an island that is geographically isolated from not only mainland Alaska, but also the [continental United States],” said Air National Guard 1st Lt. Ryan Fortune, a flight nurse from the 139th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. “Getting resources out here is challenging. The environment that it’s in is extremely challenging–so not only material goods, but also health care goods. And maintaining healthcare for the people of this area is extremely important.”
Arctic Care operated from a central hub within the City of Kodiak, but smaller teams forward deployed to expand services to six remote villages on and around the island: Old Harbor, Port Lions, Ouzinkie, Akhiok, Karluk, and Larsen Bay. Guardsmen from Alaska National Guard, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion - 168th General Support Aviation Battalion, transported personnel and equipment with three UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, operating from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak. In addition to getting resources to Kodiak Island, the task of moving teams to more isolated locations furthered expeditionary training.
“Our primary mission is in fact to get training for our troops. Whether they’re Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, or otherwise. It’s not necessarily that they need assistance with or training on how to treat patients. They are excellent at that already,” said Air National Guard Capt. David Falcon, Arctic Care mission officer in charge. “What they need assistance on is finding an austere environment to operate in. So that way when they deploy in the future, they’ll be ready to go with limited resources and in an environment they may not be as comfortable as what they’re dealing with Monday through Friday.”
To prepare mission participants for deployed environments, the mission was designed to be multi-service. The Air National Guard led the mission, and was supported by Air Force Reserve and active duty; Navy Reserve and active duty; Army National Guard, Reserve, and active duty; Marine Corps Reserve; the U.S. Public Health Service; and the U.S. Coast Guard. Members recognized the joint environment to be an opportunity to learn from the other services.
“One of the advantages is that I think you get the best of both worlds. You get to experience what it’s like on either side of the coin–how things are done in one branch may not necessarily be done the same way in another branch,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Melvin Middlebrooks, a dental technician with 4th Dental Battalion, 24th Dental Company. “So you get to learn and broaden your horizons, so to say, just by taking in the different experiences you get from working with a joint mission.”
In addition to training expeditionary skills, Arctic Care 2024 set itself apart from past missions by offering a variety of emergency medical courses to its members. Certified trainers from various units instructed personnel in Tactical Combat Casualty Care, Medic-X, Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support, Pediatric Life Support, Prehospital Trauma Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support/Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses, and Emergency Medical Technician certification and refreshers. In total, instructors delivered nearly 7,000 formal classroom training hours. Combined with occupational on-the-job training, members each completed more than 100 training hours throughout the mission.
“This is a very unique training opportunity that we have. Each unit has opportunities that other units may not have. So here, during this IRT, it’s a completely collaborative environment. So each unit that comes brings with them a cadre of staff and trainers and equipment and knowledge that other units can’t have,” said Fortune.
Arctic Care personnel extended training opportunities to local first responders and medical providers, which bolstered their emergency response capabilities and also saved them money. According to the U.S. Coast Guard Fire Department, the training provided by Arctic Care saved their department more than $33,000 in local training funds.
“The training team spent a lot of time with us during the planning stage to understand the limited resources we have available to train our local law enforcement and healthcare agencies, which led up to a mass casualty simulation event during the mission which pulled in our local law enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard fire department, as well as our local hospital and healthcare providers,” said Nichole Miles, vice president of public affairs for KANA.
Emergency management personnel designed a mass casualty exercise at the Kodiak Municipal Airport to culminate training efforts–a first-ever event for Arctic Care. The exercise simulated a plane crash, which required military personnel to assess, treat, and evacuate casualties. Kodiak, Bayside, and Coast Guard Fire Departments participated to continue care for patients and transport them to Providence Hospital, where emergency room personnel had the opportunity to exercise their mass casualty capabilities.
“So we, through the Guard, are able to bring a lot of those resources and deliver direct care to the people of this area, but also foster a sustainment posture in training the local emergency providers, both in-hospital and pre-hospital to be able to provide for those of the island, themselves,” said Fortune.
For some mission members, Arctic Care has been their first time participating in an Innovative Readiness Training event or even a temporary duty assignment. For those first-timers, the transportation and logistical elements of the mission were eye-opening.
“For me, I was really excited just to be on the [military air] flight over here. I was lucky enough to be part of the [advanced] team, so we were here a little bit in advance and we set up things. We got to just experience what it takes, just seeing everything that’s coming in on different shipments and pallet drops, and working together to get the mission done,” said USPHS Lt. Kayla Vujovich, a pharmacist with the Indian Health Service.
“We were pretty much prepping our gear for the past three or four months, trying to get the logistics straightened out on our end–6th [Communication] Battalion, and that was pretty much the hardest part–logistics stuff,” said U.S. Marine Cpl. Brian Salcedo, a communications technician with the 6th Communication Battalion.
Overwhelmingly, many of the Arctic Care members expressed a sense of fulfillment by participating in the mission, no matter what their role.
“It’s always great helping people in whatever way you can, and in our case, we’re making eyewear for them,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Marcus Estrada, a hospital corpsman from the Naval Opthalmic Readiness Activity. “We’ve had plenty of military personnel from other locations come over and tell us how grateful that patient was. That’s fulfilling. You know, just trying to help out wherever we can.
In addition to operating jointly, IRTs are also designed to bolster civil-military partnerships. For Arctic Care leadership, they credit much of the mission success to the support of their community partner, KANA.
“The community partners have been fantastic. They have been working with us all the way back since September, and it’s truly a joy to see so many so professional and so capable of allowing us both the space to train and figure things out for ourselves, but at the same time providing us with virtually anything we need while we’re here,” said Falcon.
KANA shared servicemember’s sentiments about the mission.
“I have had the honor to serve as the lead community partner in planning three Arctic Care missions,” said Miles. “I was born and raised in Kodiak. These missions give me an opportunity to give back to my community and my people and it is something I feel very fortunate and lucky to be a part of.”
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.28.2024 22:02 |
| Story ID: | 472390 |
| Location: | KODIAK, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Arctic Care serves Kodiak community, trains service members, by Maj. Mary Hook, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
