Photo By Staff Sgt. Alexis Morris | Service members from across the United States armed forces pose for a group photo...... read more read more
More than 160 joint service members from four branches and 33 different units came together to provide no-cost medical care to a local community while sharpening mission-essential skills as a part of the Operation Healthy Ellwood Innovative Readiness Training.
From July 23 to August 1, 2025, Operation Healthy Ellwood set up a clinic in Lincoln Junior Senior High School, offering medical, dental, optometry, veterinary and mental health care.
The mission saved the community more than $1.2 million in fair market value costs after service members evaluated over 2,400 patients over ten days. The Naval Ophthalmic Readiness Activity team fabricated 1,056 eyeglasses. The pharmacy saw 300 patients and dispensed nearly $7,000 worth of items.
Five years ago, a local hospital closed in Ellwood City, forcing residents to travel elsewhere for urgent medical care. U.S. Air Force Col. Nicole Hurley, the command nurse for Air Force Reserve Command, said she sprung into action to get her hometown the help it needed as soon as she could.
“We’ve been working on this mission for two years,” said Hurley. “You have an idea of what it will be like, but then you see all of these amazing people doing such great things for the community, and I’m just happy to be here to witness it.”
Judy Magill, an Ellwood City resident, said the operation was a relief for her small town.
“Ever since the hospital shut down, resources have been limited,” said Magill. “An ambulance ride to the nearest hospital can take well over an hour. So events like this are amazing for our community.”
Patients traveled from across the region to visit the clinic. Mary Kay Hagenbuch grew up in Ellwood City before moving to Florida, and said she came back to take her autistic brother to the clinic in hopes that the service members here would be able to connect with him.
“My sister, who is in the service, told me about the operation,” said Hagenbuch. “She told me what an amazing opportunity this was, and not to miss out.”
Hagenbuch said she met U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick LaFond, 104th Medical Group physician assistant, who has a son with autism. He said after noticing Hagenbuch was distraught, he was able to relate to her through his own experiences and share resources to assist her and her brother.
“As the father of an autistic son, this was very important to me,” said LaFond. “It makes me really proud to be here, and proud to serve.”
LaFond introduced Hagenbuch and her brother to U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Mark Warner, 4th Dental Battalion dentist, who made the patient feel comfortable enough to agree to dental care. Hagenbuch said that it was the connection to the providers that made all the difference.
“My brother told me very passionately he would never have anyone look in his mouth,” said Hagenbuch. “This is a miracle. I am praising all of you for your kindness, your competence and your care in getting my brother one step further where I couldn’t.”
U.S. Air Force Maj. Zachary Callahan, the IRT officer-in-charge, praised the hard work of all service members involved in the operation, and told them their actions have made an impact on the community.
“You’ve shown that when we unite across units, branches and specialties, there’s no limit to what we can achieve together,” said Callahan. “Lives in this community are better today than they were when we first set foot here.”
While the IRT mission is to provide key services to American communities, it’s also about the training opportunities for the military to become mission-ready. Service members completed 869 tasks over 2,031 total training hours.
In order to simulate a real-world scenario involving local mission partners, Operation Healthy Ellwood orchestrated a Mass Casualty Incident. 41 service members, six local fire departments, two local emergency service agencies, seven local news outlets and more than 60 nursing students came together to accomplish the training event.
Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Mutti, 104th MDG noncommissioned officer in-charge of training, said that the skills developed on the IRT are key to developing service members.
“It’s not just medical here, we have agencies like administration, services and logistics that also need this readiness training,” said Mutti. “We’re training them to be able to deploy and defend this country, because at the end of the day, we’re all one team and we’re going to work together.”
Over the clinic’s 10-day operating period, several local businesses in the area posted signs on their front doors stating they were closed due to volunteering at Operation Healthy Ellwood. A total of 116 volunteers assisted service members in a variety of roles for 209 hours.
Mutti, choking back tears, said the support from the local community was paramount to mission success.
“They fought for us to be here,” said Mutti. “We can’t do what we’re doing here without the city of Ellwood.”
| Date Taken: | 08.02.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2025 16:35 |
| Story ID: | 544609 |
| Location: | ELLWOOD CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 593 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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