Courtesy Photo | Bottom left corner, Capt. Daniel Karakas looks at a chart and talks to a co-worker...... read more read more
Three Soldiers from U.S. Army Medical Activity Department-Fort Stewart returned to work at Winn Army Community Hospital following a deployment as members of various Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces (UAMTF).
UAMTFs are one of the ways the Army is supporting the nation by providing military medical personnel to civilian hospitals overwhelmed with the coronavirus pandemic.
A Washington Headquarters Service (https://www.whs.mil) release dated April 5, said each UAMTF consisted of about 85 personnel. These subject matter experts include clinical and administrative staff, operational medicine, infectious disease, preventive medicine, nursing, respiratory therapy, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, dieticians, and pharmacy.
Each UAMTF was organized to help provide an expeditionary, deployable, and scalable medical staff to urban areas – and for the three Winn Soldiers, the mission was in Texas.
Col John E. Balser, Winn Army Community Hospital's Deputy Commander for Medical Services, was part of UAMTF-16, assigned by U.S. Northern Command to support the 16th Hospital Center. UAMTF-16 provided medical support in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley at McAllen Medical Center.
“We arrived to a health care system that was overwhelmed with COVID cases plus a staff that was exhausted,” Balser said. “We went to work immediately, providing all sorts of services ranging from mental health, intensive care nursing, emergency response, chaplain support, respiratory, phlebotomy, and ward staff. Initially, we were plugging holes; but did establish an entire ward to accept COVID patients. That eventually became our main focus.”
"Over time, the hospital took on more and more of our tasks to the point that we were no longer needed, and they were back to being independent.”
Capt. Daniel Karakas, a registered nurse with Winn ACH, a native of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, deployed in support UAMTF-MEDCOM with SPC. Carlos Sanchez Morales, a nutrition care specialist and a native of Jackson, Florida. They reported to Houston, Texas at United Memorial Medical Center.
When they arrived, they found the hospital was hard-pressed for help.
"A lot of the doctors and nurses were working 90-plus days since it started in March, they were hit hard in Houston," Karakas said. "Which is one of the reasons we were called to help."
When they arrived, Sanchez Morales said the nutritionist helped modify the menu to COVID patients, but realized their efforts would go beyond their specialties.
"They crossed trained me to help with patients – taking vitals, feeding patients," Sanchez-Morales said. "Sometimes, that required cleaning patients. It was a great experience because I was able to help others, and step outside my normal role – something bigger."
Karakas had similar feelings.
"I joined the Army to help out a great cause," Karakas said. "[I] became a nurse to help people in need."
Karakas said going on this mission was a great opportunity.
“Seeing the initial conditions - and hearing how much the Task Force was appreciated - I was grateful to help and be a part of the team,” Karakas said. “It was a great experience.”
| Date Taken: | 10.08.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2020 16:12 |
| Story ID: | 380597 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Hometown: | BOYERTOWN, PA, US |
| Hometown: | JACKSONVILLE, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Winn Soldiers support Army UAMTF mission, return home, by Patrick Young, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT