U.S. military partners with the Gersundheitant in helping to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus

Photo By Warrant Officer Patrik Orcutt | Lt. Col, Preston, Commander of the US Army Health Clinic in Hohenfels, inspects mobile ventilators at the Pete Burke Center on Artillery Barracks in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, April 15th. The Burke Center has been transformed from Garmisch’s multi-use building into a full screening and care facility for the community.  

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, BY, GERMANY

04.16.2020

Story by Sgt. Patrik Orcutt 

Joint Multinational Readiness Center

GARMISCH, Germany- U.S. Army Lt. Col, Samuel Preston, Commander of the US Army Health Clinic Hohenfels, visited Artillery Barracks during COVID-19. Preston’s visit encompassed checking on the screening facilities at the Pete Burke center as well as visiting with local german Gesundheitant.

The Gesundheitant, the German Office of Health, have been partnering with the U.S. military here in Bavaria to help stop the Spread of COVID-19.

“Just like with the Gesundheitants near Hohenfels, the Garmisch Gesundheitant with the American Army are committed to making sure we approach this public health event as one community”, said Preston. “It isn’t the Americans and the Germans, those that live in the kasernes and those that live outside the kasernes, it's all of us. The meeting with them was incredibly reassuring and we just reinforced our already established commitment to fighting the global pandemic together.”

The center has been transformed from Garmisch’s multi-use building into a full screening and care facility. It is being utilized for screening and properly identifying potential risks for COVID said Sgt. 1st Class Mathew Wess from Task Force Med CUOPS at Hohenfels. The center has helped protect further virus spread within our communities he would later go on to say.

Preston’s was excited to see the improvements made to the screening center since his last visit to Garmisch.

“When I was here about a month ago it was simply a stethoscope, a doctor and two medics, that’s what we had," said Preston. "Because of the coordination and the collaboration with Joint Multinational Readiness Center as well as Medical Department Activity Bavaria and the garrison with the Timberwolf team here we were able to identify gaps very quickly and any issues were raised from the first time we visited have all been mitigated.

Now what I'm seeing is the evolution of the medical capability and support here to better match what is being supplied at Hohenfels. Its indistinct between the care that is being received here and at Hohenfels and that’s reassuring to me. Couple that with a community medical system that is absolutely committed to supporting us and I am very satisfied with the Medical Response and capabilities here in Garmisch.”

Preston would later go on to talk about how helping an isolated community like Garmisch presented unique issues during COVID-19.

“One of the important characteristics of Garmisch that makes it beautiful is that it's isolated and it's this mountain Hamlet and when its vacation season it's time to go hiking or skiing, that isolation is a benefit. But when you're in the middle of a global pandemic the resources can seem pretty scarce,” said Preston. “The Army and US Army Europe recognizing the isolation of this community immediately sent down the Timberwolves team along with some Task Force MED Cobra team members to make sure that individuals knew that they weren’t completely isolated.”

Even with Garmisch being distanced from other military communities in Bavaria, they are still being supported and meeting mission standards during these unique times.

“I'm incredibly grateful to JMRC and the Timberwolf team and how they are supporting the medical operations here, we absolutely couldn’t do it without our team partners and the collaboration that is going on here is world-class and top-notch,” said Preston.

• Date Taken: 04.16.2020
• Date Posted: 04.20.2020 12:18
• Story ID: 367533
• Location: GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, BY, DE