DLA team in Liberia saves medicine pallets, gets them to cold storage

Courtesy Photo | Members of the Joint Task Force-Port Opening team unload boxes of medicine into a refrigerator at a grocery store in Liberia. The service members worked with DLA team members and locals to transport the medicine to cold storage before it expired. (Photo by Navy Cmdr. Harold W. Valentine)  

LIBERIA

11.10.2014

Story by Sara Moore 

Defense Logistics Agency   

It had already been a long September day of receiving and unloading pallets of supplies at Roberts International Airport in Liberia, but when Navy Cmdr. Harold W. “Tracer” Valentine saw a pallet of white boxes marked with the American Red Cross logo sitting unattended in the hot afternoon sun, he knew he had to take action.

Valentine, the deputy commander of the Defense Logistics Agency support team in Liberia, was working at the airport with members of the Joint Task Force-Port Opening team to receive pallets of DLA supplies and materials to support Operation United Assistance, the Department of Defense operation supporting the U.S. Agency for International Development-led effort to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. They were doing a walkthrough of the supply staging area when they noticed the pallet of boxes, which they recognized as cold packs for medicine.

“I asked [Maj. Matt Riviera of the Rapid Port Opening Element], ‘Those aren't cold packs for meds, are they? Surely not,’” Valentine said. “Of course Matt ripped off the packing list and we both almost swallowed our tongues as we read the list of controlled medicinals, and they were going to expire at 6 p.m.”

Valentine and the others quickly found out that the people who had come in with the pallet of medicine had gone to their hotel in Monrovia, a two-hour round trip. The expiration time was rapidly approaching, so they took action to find a place to store the medicine before it expired. Their first step was to move the medicine into an air-conditioned tent to keep it as cool as possible. Then, they coordinated with a U.S. Army Africa medical representative and started calling local hospitals, schools and ports to find a refrigerator large enough for the cold packs.

While they scrambled to find a place to store the medicine, Robert V. Tolbert, of Crowley Maritime Corporation, who was working as the military’s local representative and translator, suggested they drive to the nearby Firestone Natural Rubber Company plantation to look for a large enough cold-storage facility. Tolbert called his cousin, who runs the hospital at the Firestone plantation, to see if he had anything big enough.

When that didn’t work out, he suggested the group go to Edmundo Garcia, the president of Firestone Natural Rubber Company. They drove to Garcia’s home, Valentine said, but a guard there said he wasn’t home and directed them to his office at the plantation. Once there, they were ushered right in to see Garcia and explained their problem.

“In an instant, we saw the true concern and dedication he had for his own employees and their families as he agreed to do anything he could to help us find a location in time,” Valentine said of Garcia. “He immediately called the owner of the grocery store on the Firestone plantation, who without hesitation agreed to let us store the meds.”

The group quickly drove to the grocery store to ensure the refrigerator was big enough to hold the medicine, Valentine said. The store owner, who had already closed the store for the day, let them in and showed them a 20-foot refrigerated tractor-trailer that had been converted into a walk-in cooler.

The team raced back to the airport to get the pallet of medicine and brought it to the store. The five team members and two people from the grocery store unloaded the extremely heavy cold packs into the refrigerator with just minutes to spare before the 6 p.m. expiration time.

The cold packs, which contained IV solutions, everyday medicines and controlled medicines, stayed at the grocery store until Oct. 13, when they were delivered to the Monrovia Medical Unit, Valentine said.

Valentine, who is still in Liberia, said he was extremely inspired by the willingness of the Liberian people to help him and his team save those packs of medicine.

“Most of the people who helped me that day had only met me for the first time that day,” he said. “No one other than [my teammates] and I knew what was really in the boxes that hot and humid afternoon. But I knew exactly what the people saw as they gathered around an American Sailor and two American Soldiers being assisted by their fellow Liberians. They saw hope.”

Since that day in September, Valentine said, he has seen countless examples of teamwork between DLA, the U.S. military, other U.S. government organizations, aid groups and local citizens as they all contribute to the fight against Ebola. He said he has seen firsthand the positive difference the U.S. military is making in Liberia, both through its work building clinics and its presence alone.

“The Liberians I have worked with told me that they felt that the world had abandoned them until they saw the American uniformed military physically on the ground in Monrovia,” he said. “They said they just couldn't believe it was true that we would join the fight against Ebola. Everyone saw hope in every truckload of material that we brought into country.”

• Date Taken: 11.10.2014
• Date Posted: 11.10.2014 10:15
• Story ID: 147483
• Location: LR