Air Guard Helps Provide Free Medical Care to Virgin Islands VIRGIN ISLANDS
“We have been planning all year to make sure we can make this mission, on all three islands, a tremendous success,” said Dr. Tai Hunte-Ceasar, Virgin Islands DoH chief medical officer. “We know what it is like to work with the military — it is always a pleasure. This means the world to me that this is something that we can do for everyone regardless of ability to pay or ability to access care.”
Story by Master Sgt. Rachelle Morris Virgin Islands National Guard, Air Force Reserve Innovative Readiness TrainingJune 20, 2024 RED HOOK, Virgin Islands - Approximately 240 service mem- bers from across the United States provided no-cost health care to more than 2,000 Virgin Islands residents June 1-9. The event, spanning three islands and multiple locations, was the inaugural Virgin Islands Wellness Innovative Readiness Training. “We provided mission-essential military training while serving the community of the Virgin Islands by providing no-cost med- ical care, optometry and dental services,” said Maj. Mu Zhang, VI wellness officer in charge and optometrist. “Logistically, we had to figure out travel arrangements and accommodations, sourcing doctors from all over the country, as well as moving medical equipment and assets to the island. It all took meticu- lous planning.”
National Guardsman Capt. Cosme Harrison, Medical Readiness Detachment, echoed her sentiment.
“The role for the National Guard in this event is to provide support to the IRT wellness fair,” Harrison said. “Knowing these resources have come to benefit my community in such a mean- ingful way, it is an amazing feeling, and I am grateful to support it. Working along (with) the Air Force has been such a great experience — everyone is so committed to the mission.”
All IRT missions serve communities and provide service mem- bers with training they may not receive at their home units.
“Here on this mission, we have 248 members from 44 different units out of 40 groups, representing 33 unique wings,” said Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey Canon, 184th Medical Group. Many of the service members skipped lunches, stayed late and worked through power outages to care for as many residents as possible. “The feedback I have been getting back from the people receiv- ing services is incredible,” said Hunte-Ceasar. “They are asking, ‘how often can you do this and are you going to come back?’ So, I am super excited that we have already put in the applica- tion for next year. This is something we plan and hope we will continue to do and get bigger and bigger every year.”
Many community partners contributed to the mission.
“We had to do a lot of collaboration with the Department of Health, Department of Education, as well as the Air National Guard,” Zhang said. “FEMA was also involved as well as civil- ian organizations such as Remote Area Medical.”
The symbiotic relationship of all parties was essential to the success of the mission.
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