Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Heaton | Col. (Dr.) Brian Neese, commander of the 380 Expeditionary Medical Group offers a tour...... read more read more
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If forced to select a single buzzword to summarize the past six months of operation at the 380th Expeditionary Medical Group clinic at Al Dhafra Air Base, one would be hard pressed to select a better word than “partnerships.”
From Army medics working alongside Air Force personnel at the clinic to a visit from the Surgeon General of the Emirati Armed Forces, a growing series of partnerships have expanded both the capacity and the capability of services offered by the 380th EMG. With a forecasted reduction in medical personnel as the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing transitions to new mission parameters in 2022, those partnerships will only grow in importance.
“Right now, we are able to handle about 95 percent of the cases that walk in our door. But what do we do about that 5 percent? That’s where our partnerships really matter,” said Col. (Dr.) Brian Neese, commander of the 380 EMG. “Building our partnerships is not only the right thing to do from a policy point of view, it is the right thing for our patients.”
Like most medical facilities around the world, the 380 EMG clinic faced a spike in the need for Covid-19 testing in the early weeks of 2022. While the clinic has its own lab technicians and facility, growing concern in January 2022 about the Omicron variant of Covid-19 overwhelmed the lab’s capacity. The Air Force medical team turned to a new relationship with a UAE government-operated lab in Abu Dhabi to help with the overflow.
“That’s a perfect example of where we needed additional capacity,” Neese said. “That same lab has the expertise to perform probably 200 different diagnostic tests. Most of them are things were are not likely to need, but if we do – now we have a partner to reach out to and add capability.”
During the Omicron surge in early 2022, the 380th MDG, supported by its local partner, conducted 4,700 Covid-19 tests. The clinic also administered Covid vaccinations and boosters, along with influenza immunization shots, to 3,100 Al Dhafra personnel over the 2021-22 winter months. Through the team’s 6-month rotation ending in late April 2022, the Med Group will have completed more than 12,000 patient interactions at the clinic.
Neese highlighted other partnerships the Med Group has in place or is working to expand:
• U.S. Army medics assigned to tenant units on ADAB routinely work out of the 380th clinic. “They become a fully integrated part of team,” explained Chief Master Sgt. Julia Andujar, senior enlisted leader for the Med Group. “We have Airmen and Soldiers working closely together. Other than the patches on the uniform, for the patient, they wouldn’t know the difference.”
• Flight surgeon and other medical specialists who travel to ADAB with their units work with the Med Group – relying on the clinic staff to support needed services and lending a hand by seeing patients as schedules allow. “It is not uncommon at all to have a flight surgeon in the building and see that there are patients waiting and then to spend an hour or two seeing patients to ensure that people are getting care in a timely fashion,” Neese said.
• An ongoing partnership with Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, the nearest Emirati trauma hospital. There, about a dozen U.S. military medical personnel are embedded with the hospital staff. While the U.S. personnel at SSMC are independent from the 380th, they do provide a convenient point of entry for communications between the base clinic medical team and the trauma center – communications that can greatly facilitate action steps when the periodic need arises to work together.
• The 380th clinic recently hosted separate official visits by the Surgeon General of the Emirati Armed Forces as well as a contingent of medical personnel from the French Armed Forces, which also operate from a separate facility on the larger ADAB installation. The goal of both, Neese explained, was simply to expand dialog between all sides.
• Bio-Medical Equipment Technicians from the 380th recently traveled to the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi to provide some technical support for medical equipment utilized there by the embassy’s clinic.
Andujar said the Medical team’s default position is to seek a way to get to “yes” on any challenge.
“Building relationships now, only assists us as we get ready to face whatever challenges tomorrow may bring,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2022 06:32 |
| Story ID: | 416817 |
| Location: | AE |
| Web Views: | 146 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Partnerships Bolster Al Dhafra Medical Clinic, by SMSgt Daniel Heaton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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