Photo By Tech. Sgt. Brigette Waltermire | Staff Sgt. Scarlett Yates, Task Force Liberty isolation residence building...... read more read more
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When Staff Sgt. Scarlett Yates, a 106th Rescue Wing Logistics Readiness Squadron supply Airman, found out she’d be deploying in support of Operation Allies Welcome, never did she imagine she’d be supporting in a medical capacity.
Yates balanced working on a dual master’s at Harvard in industrialization and psychology with being the noncommissioned officer in charge of the only isolation residence building for Task Force Liberty, doing nothing related to her regular Air Force specialty.
“We were told we would be standing up the isolation building for the guests, which I thought meant I would support them getting supplies and food delivered for medical personnel to distribute in the building,” she said. “I never expected to be in the role of the day shift NCO, but the experiences I’ve had here have shown me I can handle anything.”
Although she expected be assigned to help in supply or be an escort for village members who needed medical treatment off base, she found she enjoyed doing a little bit of everything – and in fact did end up acting as a medical escort off base one very memorable time.
“We had a woman go into labor, and I ended up being her military escort to the hospital,” she recounted. “They didn’t speak much English, and we weren’t able to have a translator come to the hospital with us, so I was there because the family was comfortable with me despite the language barrier.”
Yates ended up staying past her scheduled 7 a.m.-7 p.m. shift on Sept. 6, 2021 – or Labor Day – and went with the family when they left for the hospital at 9 p.m. She expected to be outside the room throughout the process, but found herself cutting the umbilical cord of a new American citizen about five hours later.
“They didn’t have a translator at the hospital. I was in the room on the phone with a translator the whole time, and they asked for my help with the birth since COVID-19 restrictions limited how many people were allowed in the room,” said Yates. “It was the first birth I’ve ever seen, and I am grateful to have that unexpected experience. I know that if I can handle this, I can handle anything.”
That experience served her well as she stepped into her role with the isolation dorm. As more people were received into the dorm, more logistical issues cropped up.
“The biggest hurdle we had to overcome was that no isolated guests can leave our building to access services of the village – preventing them from visiting medical, getting food from the dining facility or going to supply to get items they might need,” she noted. “We had to establish a way to provide these services from our staff as well as track the sanitation of the building, the rooms that were taken or empty, and when release dates for quarantined villagers would be.”
Within the span of two weeks, they had their operation down to a well-oiled machine. With their highest population reaching 333 people between active infectious cases and exposures, they worked around the clock to provide services to the members of their small community.
“It takes knowing your residents well to make sure everyone is getting the treatment and services needed,” she said. “I want to improve this place every day so they don’t feel like they’re isolated.”
With village members spending time in the building and around the staff, they get to know each other more easily than in other areas of the village. Residents of the dorm will help staff with tasks like helping to carry in cases of water, which bonds residents and staff into a team.
“Our unit here is basically a village within a village,” said Yates. “For the high tempo and high pressure the military members working here face, there is really high morale. Both military members and those residents who have left here miss the place when they are assigned to another location or are no longer quarantined.”
This sense of trust between the dorm managers and residents proved invaluable in emergency situations, as Yates discovered on that memorable Labor Day.
Every member deployed as part of Task Force Liberty is helping build relationships between U.S. citizens and Afghan guests, but many Airmen go above and beyond expectations in these unique situations. Yates is one among many doing the most that they can, but her time helping a family on Labor Day highlights the unique ways Airmen are called on to step outside of their specialty and adapt to unique circumstances.
“I really think my job is even cooler now after that experience – although that was a long 24 hours,” said Yates. “It’s a cool moment to share with my family because my mom was a nurse for 30 years. Also, getting just a taste of how medical emergencies can be gave me a whole new respect for how we all come together to create a complete team for our guests to rely on. I never thought I would experience anything like this, but I’m glad I did.”
| Date Taken: | 12.13.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.14.2021 07:40 |
| Story ID: | 411029 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 91 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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