Photo By John Hughel | Washington Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Jennifer Glessing, assigned to the 262nd...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. - For over and year a half, military service members across the nation have been activated on the front lines responding to the turbulence generated from the Coronavirus pandemic.
From towns large and small, Air National Guardsmen have developed various and innovative skills on the job helping directly support their communities by supporting COVID tests sites, community food banks, employment insurance, and vaccine distribution.
Since October 2020, New York Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Scarlett Yates, a supply specialist assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing, Gabreski Air National Guard Base, New York, has been working the COVID-19 missions around the Long Island area. When she was assigned to Operation Allies Welcome (OAW) here at Task Force Liberty, she knew some of the Afghan people arriving would need specialized support for not only potential COVID cases but also any other standard illnesses or medical concerns.
“When I first got here, I was tasked as an escort for our (Afghan) guests,” she said. “Shortly thereafter, when some of the first cases of COVID were detected, I was asked if I would be comfortable working in the ‘COVID dorm,’ but I knew what I was getting into and how to stay safe in the environment.”
The mission was assigned to a small team from Yates’s home unit, six members working a 12-hour day shift and five on the 12-hour night shift. The building would help mitigate the spread of illness throughout the rest of the village and the staff could directly care for each patient’s needs. The location offers a place for those that have tested positive for COVID-19 and their close contacts to isolate and quarantine.
“Because here we’re our own little village, we can do everything for our community,” she said, explaining that the need for an isolation dorm provided protection for the larger community.
To ensure emotional and physical stimulation, the team coordinated food delivery, scheduled time outdoors, and just spent time with the guests, even though there were language barriers.
During a morning breakfast delivery, Senior Airman Joseph Mancuso, assigned to the 507th Air Refueling Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, kept an upbeat energy and easy connection to those in the building, offering an extra carton of milk or making sure there were enough meals for family members in quarantine.
“These are essential needs, like food or medicine but we also get to know people here by face and often connecting with gestures or phrases,” he said.
In the ‘COVID Dorm,’ compassion has a language all its own.
Over time other mundane yet important obstacles have been solved by proximity and familiarity. As the Afghan guests have begun to connect with their hosts, food sensitivity issues have been resolved.
“An interesting caveat is that many of the women weren’t comfortable with telling the male interpreters that they were vegan. So they ended up telling another woman who could speak English,” said Yates, reflecting on the fact that they kept asking for healthy snacks. “Directly asking for it took some time to feel relaxed enough because they did not want to seem like they were complaining or ungrateful.”
This offered a new dietary challenge to the staff, but it was one that Master Sgt. Heather Lawton, assigned to the 194th Wing, Camp Murray, Washington, wanted to personally take on.
“Once we started to get feedback on some of these food issues, they told us about having a variety to the meals,” she said. “The potatoes were too spicy and they wanted hard-boiled eggs rather than scrambled eggs. Just simple things that we needed to talk to the chef about.”
After consulting with an Afghan cultural advisor assigned to the village, Lawton wanted to talk to the chef who was working on the menus.
“When I went to talk to him the first thing he said to me was that they had been asking for feedback on the meals and were more than willing to make these simple changes,” she said. “These are the kind of issues that make living through the isolation phase slightly easier.”
When fellow Washington Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Jennifer Glessing, a cyber systems operator assigned to the 262nd Cyberspace Operation Squadron, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, started working in the isolation dorms, she felt a real connection to the work and people.
“I started working here because I was fully vaccinated, but I was somewhat hesitant,” she said, explaining how the stability of having an assigned role was important to contribute to the overall mission. “It was a place that I could call home and not have to learn something every day and leave it.”
Like Yates, the two Washington State Guardsmen started off working as bus chaperones for Afghan guests arriving from the airport. They eventually found their calling helping in the COVID dorms, knowing that direct connection to Afghan guests is what they desired.
Glessing said she also made a strong connection to the kids in the building.
“These children need us, the extra support (while) keeping them isolated as to not spread any of the infectious diseases in the village. It meant that I was always trying to find ways to keep them engaged with games, drawings, and activities.”
It was also important for their parents to rest and recover. As a mother of two, this was something Glessing could identify with, especially being away from home.
“It’s going to be hard to leave because there is part of me that will still be here after I go home,” Glessing said, explaining how her heart has been in two places the past month. “I missed my son’s birthday while I was here and between the work schedule and time difference, I couldn’t talk to him until he got home from school. That was a really hard day.”
Airmen working together in the COVID dorm discovered the little things matter. Their teamwork and care are positively impacting those recovering.
| Date Taken: | 10.05.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 10.05.2021 15:14 |
| Story ID: | 406753 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 676 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, TF Liberty Airmen provide care and kindness for Afghan guests receiving medical care, by John Hughel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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