Photo By Senior Airman Anthony Reyes | U.S. Air Force 914th Aeromedical Stating Squadron poses for a photo during the...... read more read more
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NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. - 14 members from the 914th Aeromedical Staging Squadron here played a pivotal role in the execution of Operation Healthy Ellwood, a Department of Defense Innovative Readiness Training mission that took place in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, in July 2025. This mission brought much-needed medical care to a region that has been identified as having significant healthcare disparities.
The IRT program is a military training program that delivers joint-training opportunities to increase deployment readiness while simultaneously supporting communities in need. The program allows for communities in the United States and its territories to apply for support in various areas of need, including healthcare, construction (CE), transportation, and cybersecurity.
Ellwood City was selected due to its limited access to reliable and consistent medical, dental, optometry, behavioral health, and veterinary services. More than 167 military members from multiple service branches assembled to provide no-cost health services to locals.
"Elwood City has been without healthcare for about five years due to the abrupt closure of their local community hospital," said Maj. Zachary Callahan, 914th ASTS Education Coordinator and Operation Healthy Ellwood Mission Commander. “The IRT program truly is a 50/50 split. It's not only 50% mission to the community, but also 50% to education and training for the military to make sure we remain green for deployment, while staying current with our expeditionary equipment and supplies."
Callahan took command of this mission less than two months before it began. His ability to quickly assess the mission’s needs and build cohesion among joint service members was instrumental to the mission’s success.
"I was originally brought on to assist with the clinical operations and joined the leadership team during the mid-planning meeting phase last February," said Callahan. "June 6th was when I got the call to take over the whole mission and execute it."
Callahan stated that troops from all over the country arrived on a Sunday, set up the clinic on Monday, and the doors opened on Tuesday. Within 48 hours, they had all branches of services coming together to set up a multi-million-dollar clinic.
"The pride from leadership and the pride from me as a commander to watch that happen and watch everybody focus in on their jobs and tasks was impressive to watch," said Callahan. "It goes back to our mission mindset with deployment opportunities. It's go-time, and within 24-48 hours, we have to have medical support operational."
Callahan mentioned there are challenges when you work with other branches of the military, but when you are working toward the same mission and goal, everything works out well.
"Each branch comes with its own rules and regulations that you have to work with, but what made this work well was that we all came together with the same purpose," said Callahan. "Our mission was to provide the highest level of healthcare to the community as well as focus in on our education and training needs."
Residents of Ellwood City received care that made an immediate impact on their health and well-being. The community showed tremendous support during this mission.
"The community outpour and support was very quick to witness. They opened up their community with food and logistical help for us," said Callahan. "There was no A/C in the high school where the main clinic was established, so the town purchased probably every fan in a 50-mile radius to help set up and make it as comfortable as they possibly could."
Throughout the mission, there were over 7,480 patient encounters and over 2,450 patients treated. The mission overview also showed there were over 16,000 procedures that were performed during the span of OHE.
"Overall, the outpouring of support and the trust of the community that they had with us, and seeing 170 people do their job at a very high level of professionalism was pretty amazing to see," Callahan stated.
Locals of Ellwood City received an estimated fair market value of around $1.26 million in healthcare services, all at no cost to them, while members of the mission completed over 3,200 training tasks and over 2,500 total training hours.
In addition to providing mission leadership, the 914th ASTS also supplied Maj. Tara Gensler, 914th ASTS Assistant Chief Nurse, took over the vacant role as the Clinical Officer In Charge. Gensler was responsible for overseeing all patient care delivery across medical, dental, optometry, and behavioral health services. Her leadership led to hundreds of patient encounters each day and the delivery of care to individuals who might otherwise go without it.
While military units contribute personnel and training resources, IRT missions produce mission-ready forces, civil and military partnerships, as well as stronger communities.
As the IRT program continues to evolve, missions like Operation Healthy Ellwood highlight how military readiness and community impact are not mutually exclusive. Still, they are inseparable components of our national strength.
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.19.2025 09:02 |
| Story ID: | 545916 |
| Location: | NIAGARA FALLS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AIR RESERVE STATION, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 103 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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