403rd ASTS supports Operation Arctic Care

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Ryan Labadens
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASS, MISS. --  Two members of the 403rd Aeromedical Staging Squadron deployed to Alaska with more than 300 government and military medical personnel to provide support for Operation Arctic Care April 15 through 30.
 
Major David Parker, 403rd ASTS officer in charge of optometry, and Master Sgt. Matthew Leonard, 403rd ASTS optometric technician and NCO in charge of optometry, volunteered to take part in this year's Arctic Care optometry team.
 
Arctic Care, which began in 1996, is an annual two-week mission where various medical professionals travel to remote villages to treat native Alaskans who have limited access to general health care. Patients receive general treatment such as dental care and eye exams, and are even offered veterinary care for their pets. Most villages can only be reached by airplane or helicopter, so the teams and supplies need to be airlifted to villages. This service provides villagers with quicker access to routine medical exams than what they can normally access throughout the year.

During the two-week deployment, the personnel split up into five separate teams, with each team servicing one village per week. Major Parker and Sergeant Leonard visited the Alaskan villages of Ruby and Galena, both located along the Yukon River more than 250 miles from the nearest city, Fairbanks, Alaska. Even during late April, the temperatures in the villages they visited barely hovered above freezing.

Sergeant Leonard said most of the roads between villages were impassable, and even the Yukon River was still frozen over from the winter.
 
Major Parker said the villagers were very appreciative for the medical services the military provided, especially considering the lengths some of them need to go to in order to receive basic care.

"In order for them to get vision care, for example, they have to buy an airplane ticket and fly to Fairbanks for two or three days to see a doctor. Then it could take them anywhere from two to three months for them to receive their glasses, so it's a long, expensive process," said the major. "With us being there, we were able to get glasses to them within three or four days for free."

Arctic Care provides health care to some of America's most remote citizens and has become the largest recurring joint military medical and logistics training exercise of its kind, providing real-world humanitarian assistance and medical care.
 
"This was a great opportunity for us to help out these people," said Sergeant Leonard. "These medical missions are important for providing health care and helping us learn how to build relations with people from different cultures, both here at home and abroad."

(Editor's note: Maj. Guy Hayes contributed to this story.)