American Service Members
Deploy to Costa Rica
By Staff Sgt. Austin M.
May, Joint Task
Force-Bravo Public
Affairs
PIEDRA MESA, Costa Rica
(AFPN) -- More than 600
patients were seen
during a two-day medical
readiness training
exercise Dec. 18 and 19
in Costa Rica by Joint
Task Force-Bravo
American service members
from Soto Cano,
Honduras.
The team, made up of 28
Airmen and Soldiers
spent two days in the
village of Piedra Mesa
operating a makeshift
clinic for the
indigenous people in the
area.
Five critical patients
required air evacuation
to the city of Limon, a
15-minute flight that
would have taken days to
hike through the
mountainous terrain.
Members of the 1st
Battallion-228th
Aviation Regiment
transported a girl
diagnosed with cerebral
palsy and pneumonia,
which was the most
critical case seen by
the team.
"They brought this
little girl here,
immediately diagnosed
her with a serious
illness, potentially
fatal, and a (Army
UH-60) Black Hawk was
able to airlift her to
Limon," said Mark
Langdale, the U.S.
ambassador to Costa
Rica, who visited Piedra
Mesa during the first
day of the exercise. "So
just by being here
today, we may have saved
that girl's life."
The majority of patients
seen by the team had
upper-respiratory
infections,
dermatological issues,
diarrhea and pneumonia,
said Dr. Miguel Coello,
a Honduran Medical
Liaison Officer with JTF-Bravo's
medical element. A small
group had parasitic
infections that were
treated by the Costa
Rican ministry of health
members present at the
site.
"We were invited here by
the Costa Rican ministry
of health to help the
isolated people of this
country," said Master
Sgt. Troy Himes, the NCO
in charge of medical
operations. "It's a
phenomenal feeling to be
able to provide true
humanitarian assistance
to people who really
need it."
The various divisions of
the clinic included
preventative medicine,
nurse triage, a pharmacy
and health-care
providers.
Reports indicated
several families had
hiked for more than a
week to reach the
medical readiness
training exercise site
despite heavy rainfall
and flooding in the
area, said Sergeant
Himes, who is deployed
from Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Ohio.
The mission has been
several years in the
making, but worth the
effort, Ambassador
Langdale said. The
reaction has been 100
percent positive,
although the Costa
Ricans are not used to
seeing a military
presence in their
country since they
abolished their own in
1948. The country has
been "unplugged" to what
the U.S. has been doing
in the Southern Command
area of responsibility,
which includes Central
America.
"We're kind of moving
forward in
re-establishing these
relationships," he said.
"It will take time, but
I feel good about it. I
feel optimistic."
The benefits of the
mission were immediately
visible to those at the
site, and the efforts
extended beyond Piedra
Mesa to other parts of
the country, Ambassador
Langdale said.
The work being done at
the site had a profound
impact on those
involved, like Tech.
Sgt. Jennifer Parker.
Sergeant Parker said the
medical readiness
training exercise, which
was her first during her
four-month deployment to
Honduras from Langley
AFB, Va., was an
immensely gratifying,
but surreal experience.
"This is the kind of
place I've only seen in
magazines and on
television," she said.
"To be standing here,
actually talking to
these people and
reaching out to them is
an incredible feeling.
This is the culmination
of everything we prepare
for at Soto Cano." ct and
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