Medical element helps Honduran village

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Sonny Cohrs
  • Joint Task Force-Bravo Public Affairs
EL HORNO, Honduras (AFPN) --  Approximately 40 American and Honduran servicemembers from the medical element at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, provided medical care for more than 1,000 people during a two-day Medical Readiness Training Exercise in the village of El Horno, Honduras.

Airmen and Soldiers of the medical element took a seven-minute flight via a UH-60 helicopter to the village atop a nearby mountain at 5,000 feet and located 15 kilometers east-northeast of the base and brought 650 pounds of medical supplies.

El Horno, which translates to "the oven," is home to approximately 450 people. Even more people traveled by foot from other villages when they heard the Americans were providing medical care and medicines for them. The two-day total for this mission was 1,072 patients, with 505 the first day, and 567 the second.

Medical services offered included health screenings, preventative medicine, general medical care, dental care, pharmacy services and a cervical cancer screening. Doctors from the Honduran Ministry of Health also attended the MEDRETE and facilitated much of the medical care alongside the American doctors, nurses and technicians.

The patients, who were standing in line before the team even arrived, were first greeted and given a preventative health briefing, which consisted of information on basic food and personal hygiene. Families were also given soap, multivitamins, and antiparasitic medications.

Planning took approximately 30 days, said Army Maj. (Dr.) Richard Malish, the officer in charge of this mission and the medical element flight surgeon. The doctor has lead similar missions in places like Iraq, Kazakhstan and Kenya.

"You're bringing acute relief to people whose quality of life isn't good," he said. "You bring about improvement in their quality of life, which is a short-term benefit."

Long-term benefits include preventative health education, immunizations, and multi-vitamins, which won't have a noticeable impact right now, Captain Malish said.

"It's not a symptom relief thing, but we're hoping by doing that, we're prolonging their survival curve and quality years of life," he said. "Our hope would be that they develop independence and a system of providing that care for themselves."

"The main goal of preventative medicine is to educate them on how to better care for themselves, versus us having to come back here every year," said Tech. Sgt. Mary Preolette, the noncommissioned officer in charge for this MEDRETE mission. The experience was "awesome," said Sergeant Preolette who is deployed here from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.

After the preventative medicine class, nurses took a brief medical history and assessed their condition. Children and pregnant females were given priority, along with those who traveled the greatest distance to see the doctors.

Of those who needed to see a doctor, many were prescribed medications, most commonly antibiotics, pain relievers, decongestants and antacids.

This was the first MEDRETE for Staff Sgt. Natasha Johnson, a pharmacy technician from Patrick AFB, Fla.

"This is definitely a life-changing experience to see how other cultures live," she said. "It gives me a greater respect for everything I have. This is one of the best experiences I've had in Honduras. I wanted to come and help out any way I could. If I can spend my holiday helping someone else's health, I definitely would."

Aside from the personal satisfaction of helping people in need, the team members gained valuable training from this MEDRETE. By visiting such a remote area, they were able to gain firsthand experience, and they're now better prepared to deploy to other regions of Central America for disaster relief and provide humanitarian assistance. 

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