Alaskan villages benefit from joint military medical outreach

  • Published
  • By Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Matt Grills
  • Operation Arctic Care Public Affairs
KODIAK, Alaska (AFPN) --  Mixed teams of Army, Navy and Air Force health-care providers are spent a week treating hundreds of medically-underserved people as part of Operation Arctic Care 2008 in six remote villages in March in Alaska.

Residents of Karluk, Old Harbor, Ouzinkie, Port Lions, Akhiok and Larsen Bay invited the servicemembers to their schools and to use their clinics to conduct free eye exams and dental cleanings as Army veterinarians traveled house to house vaccinating animals. 

Operation Arctic Care is an annual training event sponsored by the Innovative Readiness Training program under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs.

"They've received us with open arms," said Master Sgt. Patrick Holena of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., an optometry assistant. "They're happy we're here, and we're happy to be here. As soon as we hit the ground, we started building friendships and making ourselves part of the community."

Teams began arriving March 3 via Coast Guard helicopters, charter fishing boats and Kodiak's Civil Air Patrol, when weather prevented the Alaska Army National Guard from using UH-60 Blackhawks to deliver people and supplies.

"This is, at heart, a civil-military project," said Lt. Col. Jerry Arends of Fargo, N.D., the officer in charge for Operation Arctic Care 2008. "The native corporation asks for the project and provides clinical support in the villages. Here we're actually looking at the civilian community providing transportation to the villages. That's very unique."

Operation Arctic Care is conducted in cooperation with and under the supervision of the Kodiak Area Native Association, or KANA, which provides health and social services for Alaska natives in the city of Kodiak and the island borough's six smaller communities.

Because of the distance -- an hour or longer by air -- natives wanting to see a doctor often wait until KANA comes to their village. Others must fly to Kodiak.

"The nonbeneficiary residents of our remote villages don't have access to our chronic care," said Navy Cmdr. Preston Van Curen of the U.S. Public Health Service and KANA's pharmacist. "When Arctic Care comes to the island, it's a big bonus to those people."

Both groups, native and non-native, benefit from the mission, which offers medical, dental and veterinary services from military providers at no cost. Specialty care this year includes dermatology, physical therapy and psychiatry.

Army Capt. Dan Chatterley of Fairbanks, Alaska, volunteered for Arctic Care two years ago, when he was first stationed at Fort Wainwright.

"I'm enjoying it," said Captain Chatterley, a general dentist assigned to the fishing village of Ouzinkie, which has a population of 193. "I've seen probably 40 or 50 patients so far -- mostly exams, a couple of extractions, a lot of fillings. The community has done a good job getting the word out that we're here."

Chondra Wommack brought her five children, all 6 and younger, to the Ouzinkie Health Clinic for oral check-ups.

"There's not a dentist who comes out here very often, and it's a lot of money to leave the island," Ms. Wommack said. "Everybody thinks this is fantastic."

Navy Chief Petty Officer Aimee Arnold of Lebanon, Pa., a dental hygienist, spent every morning in Ouzinkie's school, teaching students how to take care of their teeth and telling them about career opportunities in her field.

"The children are wonderful," Chief Arnold said. "They love asking questions. I think one of them's going to end up becoming a dentist. He knew how many teeth are in the mouth, and which are the molars and which are the incisors."

Villagers also receive eye exams and, when needed, free eyewear.

Maj. Christine Stabile of McChord Air Force Base in Washington brought a deployable optometry kit that included an autorefractor, a handheld computer that can make an approximate measurement of a person's prescription within seconds.

"Our equipment supports Arctic Care every year, and we said, 'This year, if you're taking our equipment, you're taking our personnel,'" Major Stabile said. "We do exactly the same kind of care that you would receive at any optometry or ophthalmology clinic in the United States. There's no cutting corners. An eye exam usually includes 14 tests, and all 14 tests are done here."

Optometrists in each village fax prescriptions to a makeshift lab set up at the Coast Guard base in Kodiak, where Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nicholas Piccard and Army Spc. Tony Fountain from the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity in Yorktown, Va., grind the lenses and produce eyewear in a matter of minutes.

"We're expecting to do about 400 jobs," Petty Officer Piccard said. "We brought finished lenses with us. From there we take off the sharp edges, mount them, quality check, wrap them up, and we're good to go."

Of all her patients this week, Major Stabile said she was most moved by the story of a young girl who had been taken in by her uncle after her father died in an accident and her mother abandoned her.

"When we gave her prescription to her uncle and told him that she'll do better at school, he started to cry. He was just so relieved," Major Stabile said.

Air National Guard Lt. Col. John Carmack of Powhatan, Va., is filling the role of primary-care physician in Ouzinkie and Larsen Bay, a village of fewer than 100 people. He has seen patients for sinus infections, hypertension, diabetes, coronary disease and mental-health issues.

"I've had people tell me that they wish I lived here," Colonel Carmack said. "Everyone has thanked me for serving, and not just me but the whole team. They say what we're doing here is a great service."

Port Lions Mayor Judy Raymond said that for the people of her village, the military teams haven't just brought care. They've brought conversation.

"I look around and see people who we've not seen out for quite some time," Mayor Raymond said. "One member of our community was talking to a couple of people who had actually served in Iraq, and she told me it brought an awareness back to her. We are somewhat isolated and can sometimes forget about what's going on outside here. This has been invigorating for us."

The same can be said for those participating in Arctic Care, said Lt. Col. Jason Hall of Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. As the team leader in Ouzinkie, he said the mission has built esprit de corps between the different service branches.

"I'll go to war with any one of these Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen," he said. "They're a fantastic crew. We have bonded as a family."

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