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    Soldiers, IHS provide health services to Native Americans

    US Army Spc. Bradley Shipman

    Photo By Capt. Jill Odell | U.S. Army Spc. Bradley Shipman, an eye specialist with the 179th Medical Detachment,...... read more read more

    OACOMA, SD, UNITED STATES

    06.08.2015

    Courtesy Story

    364th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

    By U.S. Army Sgt. Beth Raney

    OACOMA, S.D. – Soldiers of the Army Reserve Medical Command’s 4220th U.S. Army Hospital teamed up with the Indian Health Service (IHS), for the first two weeks in June 2015 on the Lower Brule and Crow Creek reservations in rural South Dakota to provide medical care to the Native American population.

    Approximately 30 Soldiers from both active duty and reserve units have come together to provide health services such as optometry, dental, radiology, pain management, and general well-being check-ups to the Native American community.

    The partnership with IHS is part of the Pentagon’s Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) program that pairs reserve military personnel with communities in need.

    Sgt. 1st Class Lenin Ramirez, a U.S. Army Reserve radiology technician with the 4220th U.S. Army Hospital in Shoreham, New York, served as the noncommissioned officer in charge of the IRT mission.

    The mission was to support the Indian reservations for both locations, Lower Brule and Fort Thompson, also known as Crow Creek, and to help the local Native Americans,” Ramirez said.

    The Soldiers coming to the reservations is part of the Pentagon’s Innovative Readiness Training program. The program matched American communities in need with appropriate medical, engineering and other reserve military units, which contribute to the communities.

    “From what I’ve seen from the first day I got here, they’re very excited to have us here,” he said.

    “They are very appreciative,” he continued. “They respect the military out here and they’re always happy that the military comes out here every year.”

    Lt. Col. Vladimir Berkovich, a medical doctor with chiropractic and acupuncture experience, assigned to the 7207th Medical Support Unit, Webster, New York, said he wanted to stress the importance of the diabetic retinopathy screenings done by the optometry Soldiers.

    “They do a very valuable service,” Berkovich said. “This takes specific significance in this population because diabetes is rampant”

    Treatment brings hope for those vulnerable to losing their sight, he said.

    “Because of that, they also treat for losing vision. Fortunately now, with modern medicine, we know the problems can be reversed or repaired,” the doctor said.

    “But unfortunately, it can lead to blindness very quickly,” he continued. “So they all know the clinic is there. They all know that they are going to get their glasses and eyes checked and dental things taken care of.”

    Sgt. Mobria Small, a dental specialist with the 4220th USAH, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the dental clinic, said her clinic was staffed by four Soldiers, including two dentists in Lower Brule.

    “We came and set up a dental clinic. From my understanding, it hasn’t been set up in years,” she said. “We came, got rid of the expired stuff and we set up shop. We made sure the place was thorough and ready to go.”

    Small said the dentist and dental technicians do as many as they can at the clinic.

    The dental procedures include examinations and tooth extractions, she said. “We do extractions. We do fillings. If we decide it’s too big of a project, we refer them to Fort Thompson or if they have Medicaid, we refer them out to a provider.”

    Small said the clinic tries to accommodate as many patients as possible in the time provided by offering dental treatments to patients waiting for their optometry appointments when there were dental appointment cancellations.

    “So they come in, we do their examinations and their X-rays and they get taken care of,” Small said. “If we have some that the work is more than an hour or two hours, we have them come back for a follow up appointment.”

    The commander of the optometry mission, 1st Lt. Rob Scott, an active duty Army optometrist from the 179th Medical Detachment, 86th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, expressed that seeing the need for care in the area is the most prevalent aspect of the work being done.

    “Access to care for them is poor, in Lower Brule in particular,” he said.

    “This particular community is not able to get access because they don’t have an optometrist,” he said. “Being able to see that need and being able to fill that need has been what’s really helped us to realize that we’re doing a great thing here.”

    Scott said the five member optometry team was able to set up their portion of the clinic in just three hours and began to see patients immediately afterwards.

    “We brought organic equipment from Fort Campbell,” Scott explained. “There was already equipment here. If it worked better than the equipment we had and more accurate, we used theirs, and if our equipment … was more accurate, we used ours.” In many cases, the Soldiers used equipment they brought with them.

    “The first three days we were here, we did diabetic screenings for diabetic retinopathy,” he said. “Halfway into the first week, the eye care team was accepting walk-ins, working refraction exams and optical lens fabrication.”

    Precetta Red Willow, the acting chief executive officer of the Lower Brule Health Clinic, said she was grateful the Soldiers’ assistance.

    There are many benefits to her agency working with the Army Reserve Medical Command, she said. “It benefits the patients because when you have collaboration from two government agencies to provide services and access to care, I think that’s always a positive thing.”

    Speaking to the Soldiers at her clinic, Red Willow said, “You guys have made an impact in the week you’ve been here. I’ve had a lot of people come up and say they’re getting glasses and going to the dentist.”

    “I think with the teeth cleanings and the minor treatments … It’s going to make a big impact with the patients,” said Red Willow.

    But, it did not stop with the basic dental procedures, she said. “Now it’s not escalating into root canals, abscesses. Also with optometry, you’ll probably give out several hundred pairs of glasses before you leave to people who normally don’t have access to getting them.”

    Not only are locals receiving dental and optometry services, the Soldier-augmented IHS clinic provides everyday health services and can temporarily offer alternative therapies through the specialized skills of the unit’s doctor.

    “Doctor Berkovich has made a big impact here, just being down here and working with pain management with a lot of the patients, doing some alternative treatment programs without just dealing with prescription medication.

    So, it’s kind of opening their eyes,” Red Willow said. “It’s really nice they’re able to access his specialty. Normally they wouldn’t have access to it or it would take a while to get it done.”

    Berkovich said although the Soldiers kept track of the numbers, the mission was not about numbers.

    “Even when patients come with a specific diagnosis, I still listen,” Berkovich said.

    “It is a wonderful thing here because we are not under pressure to see numbers. We take more interest in the quality, and quality comes when you can actually listen to the patient, what their concerns are,” he said. “It is a very rewarding experience when people are coming saying they want to see me. That is nice.”

    Regina Box, a native of Lower Brule, and member of the Lakota tribe of Sioux Indians, said she recently seen Berkovich for pain and conveyed appreciation for his alternative therapy work.

    “It’s wonderful and greatly needed,” she said. “People don’t have to rely on pain medications.”

    Many of the Soldiers on this assignment commented that they felt the benefits of such a mission extended to them as well as the local community.

    “It’s a touching experience,” Small said. “We’ve had great feedback. Even though the reservations fall under their own constitutions, this mission reminds us how much we are one and how much we can actually help others who are not in a green uniform.”

    “I think it’s a phenomenal mission,” Scott said.

    “It’s been an awesome opportunity to come do something for a population that, for the general America population, there’s a lack of news and information that even makes it out,” he said.

    “These communities, one, exist still and, two, there’s a medical need to volunteer and help these people.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 06.08.2015
    Date Posted: 06.16.2015 00:07
    Story ID: 166757
    Location: OACOMA, SD, US
    Hometown: LOWER BRULE, SD, US

    Web Views: 292
    Downloads: 0

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