GREENSBORO, North Carolina-- The 15th Air Force, Task Force-Southeast advanced operational node (ADVON) team worked alongside members of North Carolina Emergency Management to setup the Community Vaccination Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, on March 2-9, 2021.
The ADVON team was responsible for establishing the foundation necessary to support the main body element that is tasked to support the CVC, which is the state’s sole state-led, federally-supported site slated to open March 10, 2021.
“Our Air Force team quickly linked up with the North Carolina Emergency Management team, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the North Carolina Guard, and several other agencies to prepare for the arrival of 139 Airmen who will help administer the COVID-19 vaccines to the public,” said Col. Benjamin Busch, 15th Air Force Forward Command Element mission commander. “We are proud to support North Carolina and FEMA in the fight against COVID and slow the spread of the virus. This is truly a whole-of-government effort with federal, state, and local agencies working side-by-side, and we feel honored and privileged to have the opportunity to help save American lives.”
Under the direction of the Secretary of Defense, the deployed Airmen from across the force make up the team that will integrate with the other agencies to expedite the vaccination process.
In addition to providing logistical support for the incoming team, the ADVON reviewed each Airman’s Air Force Specialty Code, credentials, and training to ensure they had the background and expertise to accomplish the tasks.
“This is the first time I’ve ever done a mission like this and it’s really eye opening to see what we’re capable of and how we can actually impact our own people,” said Tech. Sgt. Brian Phillips, 15th AF, TF-SE public health advisor. “We’re set up and ready to give this many vaccines to this many people because we came together with the other agencies as a unit. I saw how amazing this was from start to finish. It’s a great experience and it’s something I probably will never do again and hopefully we don’t have to because we beat COVID.”
Once the CVC opens, the Airmen are projected to administer approximately 3,000 vaccines per day to community members from across North Carolina.
The road to opening day was one that came with challenges, but with team members like Phillips and its own medical planner leading the way, the ADVON team was able to solve them.
“As the medical planner, I put the picture together for the team,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ramona Rivas, 15th AF, TF-SE lead medical planner. “I knew who needed to come into the picture from the state and FEMA so we could properly align with them.”
Despite having similar professional expertise, Rivas says before the agencies could become a cohesive team they had to overcome the agency specific language barriers.
“We all spoke a different language with different acronyms, expectations and operational pictures,” said Rivas. “My job was to sync it all and ensure that it transferred into a language that we each could understand, fit and work together.”
While supporting a Defense Support of Civil Authorities mission will be unique for most Airmen, Rivas has been training for this moment for more than eight years.
“This mission is like a dream come true for a medical planner,” said Rivas. “Not a dream come true because of COVID but because we know what to do. This is what we’ve been training for and it’s a great feeling to be able to execute and be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity to save lives and help our own.”
As the ADVON team prepares to leave and turn over all operations to the main body element, the resounding response from the team is excitement about the smooth and seamless transition that should correlate into vaccinating the masses throughout the state.
U.S. Northern Command, through U.S. Army North, remains committed to providing continued, flexible Department of Defense support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the whole-of-government response to COVID-19.
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2021 14:48 |
| Story ID: | 391355 |
| Location: | GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 128 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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