Local becomes interpreter during medical training exercise

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Meredith Thomas
  • 916th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
SÉBACO, NICARAGUA (AFNS) --  A 12-year-old girl from a small Nicaraguan community acted as an interpreter for the English-speaking medical team here during their medical readiness training exercise.

Antonella Espinoza visited the Sébaco MEDRETE site with her mother to find relief from her allergies Aug. 8. During her treatment, she found her ability to speak both languages fluently provided her with a unique opportunity to help.

"While we were waiting, we saw a woman who didn't understand English," Espinoza said. "My mother said, 'Go help her, Antonella,' and that's when I started."

Espinoza spent the next three days assisting Lt. Col. (Dr.) Iris Eisenberg, a physician with the MEDRETE pediatric clinic here, and others in their interactions with local citizens seeking medical aid. The young girl translated the patients' complaints, simple directions from the doctor and instructions for taking any prescribed medications.

"She's tripled my efficiency over the past couple of days," Eisenberg said. "And she's scary smart."

The girl's hard work was so appreciated that the MEDRETE mission commander, Lt. Col. Dawn Moore, organized a ceremony to recognize Espinoza's achievements and award her with a special medical coin.

"In the Air Force we have a tradition of giving a coin to someone who has done an outstanding job," Moore said during the ceremony. "You truly have done an outstanding job helping us here. This is our way of saying, 'Gracias.'"

Espinoza learned to speak English during the four years she spent living in Miami with her family. She said she gained a lot from her experience with the Air Force Reserve medical team and is even aspiring to become a pediatrician when she gets older.

"I like helping," Espinoza said. "So, any way I can help, I do it."