New York Airmen provide medical equipment for refugees

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mike R. Smith
  • New York Air National Guard Public Affairs
STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. (AFPN) --  Thousands of Nicaraguans needing treatment received help from New York guardsmen when the Airmen gathered to sort through a hospital full of dusty medical equipment.

Sister Deb, or Debbie Blow, executive director of the North Country Mission of Hope in Plattsburgh, N.Y., has an ongoing mission to provide humanitarian assistance in Nicaragua. From Oct. 25 to 27, that mission included working with 17 members of the New York Air National Guard here.

“I feel blessed to have met this group,” said Sister Deb. She looked across the remains of what was once an emergency room as clanking and banging sounds echoed through an open doorway on her right. “I don’t know how we could have accomplished this without them.”

Stratton, home of the famous 109th Airlift Wing whose ski-equipped LC-130s land at the North and South poles, was the closest base available with the required equipment and skills to complete the task.

The Airmen helped remove, package and ship medical equipment and supplies from the now-closed Plattsburgh Air Force Base’s hospital. The New York base closed in 1995 in a nationwide round of base closures.

The group trucked the equipment from the deserted four-story hospital to a staging area at the base, then prepared and loaded the equipment into containers for transport by sea. They prepared X-ray equipment, operating tables, autoclaves, dental chairs, mammography machines and other large medical equipment.

“We (made) custom crates for the larger, more important machines,” said Senior Master Sgt. Tom Chico, a civil engineer.

The items will be shipped to the country free of charge through the Department of Defense’s Denton Program, which is a logistics program that sends U.S. aid worldwide by land, sea and air within the Defense Transportation System.

"We came to assist the Mission of Hope, but I think I speak for all 109th personnel who helped out that we gained as well in this endeavor," said Senior Master Sgt. Mark Schaible, the 109th’s air cargo specialist supervisor.

“We had to tell them to take some time off,” said Connie Miller, a Mission of Hope secretary. She leaned over her clipboard and looked into one of six shipping containers being loaded by the Airmen. “They are extremely respectful of what we are trying to do here.”

Support for the project poured in from the military and civilian communities. The mission received everything needed to get the equipment sailing, from pallet and packaging material to food for those moving and crating the equipment.

“It’s amazing how everything has fallen into place,” Sister Deb said.

She explained that medical professionals from the local community had volunteered to ensure the equipment was safe and useable. A local equipment calibrator also volunteered to test the equipment and will travel to Nicaragua to train locals when the equipment arrives Nov. 25.

“They’re the same people who serviced the equipment when this hospital was open,” Sister Deb said. “It seems beyond coincidence.”