LIHU‘E — A partnership between military reservists and state health care professionals will allow all Kaua‘i residents access to free routine medical care, including medicines and dental and vision services, from Feb. 28 through March 9. An exultant Dr. Dileep
LIHU‘E — A partnership between military reservists and state health care professionals will allow all Kaua‘i residents access to free routine medical care, including medicines and dental and vision services, from Feb. 28 through March 9.
An exultant Dr. Dileep Bal, Kaua‘i district health officer for the state Department of Health, told the Kaua‘i County Council on Wednesday that a partnership between the state agency, federal Department of Defense and community support organizations resulted in the project called Tropic Care 2012.
A team of about 400 military reservists from around the country, including physicians and other health care professionals, will set up clinics to serve whoever shows up from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Kaua‘i Community College in Puhi, All Saint’s Episcopal Church in Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe. The clinics will close early, at 3:30 p.m., only on March 6.
“All 65,000 of us are eligible to attend,” said Kauai‘i District Health Nurse Supervisor Toni Torres, lead coordinator of the effort. “There is no eligibility (requirement).”
Bal was instrumental in bringing Tropic Care Kaua‘i 2012 to the island as part of a military training exercise. He said the scope of medical services will include general physical, breast and pelvic exams, prostrate screenings, nutrition and behavioral assessments, dental (cleaning and minor repair) services, CPR and first aid classes, vision exams, blood work panels and other services.
“These guys are some of the top academic medical service professionals in the world,” Bal said. “They happen to be in the (military) reserve.”
Besides the exams and classes, the clinics will provide medicine for up to 30 days and will have equipment capable of manufacturing up to 400 pairs of prescription glasses a day, Bal said.
U.S. Air Force Col. Jerry Arends attracted laughter from council members when he said, “For anyone who is accustomed to military wear, there is actually going to be a range of stylish glasses, rather than what we always call the BCG, the birth control glasses, when you won’t get another date.”
Planners anticipate serving more than 6,000 Kaua‘i residents, Bal said. The reservists will be housed at Kapa‘a and Hanapepe armories.
The Kaua‘i District Health Office will lead the event, and will be aided by federal, state, and county civil authorities and a wide range of community-based volunteers.
Tropic Care Kaua‘i 2012 is a Department of Defense Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) operation that will provide the participating military reservists with real-world, rapid-deployment training.
The island’s district health office and the governor’s office had submitted an application to the Pentagon for assistance to improve public health services on Kaua‘i.
IRT operations provide medical support to under-served populations in remote areas throughout the United States and its territories. In recent years, the IRT program has deployed military reserve personnel to Alabama, Alaska, California, Hawai‘i, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
IRT personnel also have been deployed for public civil engineering projects to Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai‘i, Minnesota, Oregon and the Virgin Islands.
The IRT deployment fulfills each participating reservist’s two-week annual training requirement. The Tropic Care Kaua‘i 2012 exercise challenges reservists to plan and implement a rapid mobilization to a distant and culturally unfamiliar area as an emergency readiness training exercise.
For more information, call Torres at 241-3387 or visit irt.defense.gov/projects.html.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
