The Weed Army Community Hospital at Ft. Irwin, California continues to vaccinate service members and civilians, and has begun giving the second round of doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The start of the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine brings Fort Irwin and the National Training Center one step closer to phase 2 of the population schema, which, according to the Department of Defense, is when healthy uniform personnel and TRICARE beneficiaries who did not meet the criteria for phase 1 can start to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
More and more individuals eligible under phase 1 continue to opt in to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including those who previously had the disease.
Who cares for those who care for us?
For the military medical providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the answer to that question is, in part, religious support teams.
In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a team of two soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve’s 785th Medical Detachment – Combat Operational Stress Control Unit, 330th Medical Brigade, 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support), are providing support to the nurses and respiratory therapists augmenting the civilian hospital here.
The two-person religious support team (RST), comprised of Army Capt. Ian Olson, chaplain, and Army Sgt. Steven Burns, religious affairs specialist, were called to active duty to support the Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force (UAMTF). Their first assignment was to provide services covering the spectrum from spiritual guidance to friendship in Eau Claire.
Since winning the 2020 Regional Health Command Europe (RHCE) Best Medic competition last November, Army Sgt. Michael Metcalf and Army Spc. Walter Galdamez from U.S. Army Medical Department Activity (MEDDAC)-Bavaria have been hard at work training for the Army competition near Sembach, Germany.
The 2021 Command Sgt. Maj. Jack L. Clark Jr. U.S. Army Best Medic Competition will be conducted at Fort Gordon, Georgia from Jan. 25-29. On Jan. 22, the competitors and cadre will enter restricted area access for the competition duration and will have been screened for COVID-19 by the time the competition starts.
“I’m proud to have both Sergeant Metcalf and Specialist Galdamez represent RHCE at the U.S. Army’s Best Medic Competition,” said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kyle Brunell, the RHCE command sergeant major. “They’re highly trained, super fit, and extremely motivated and I think they have a great chance to win.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain not only on frontline healthcare workers, but also the medical laboratory professionals who perform COVID-19 testing behind the scenes. Medical laboratory professionals who have rarely been in public view are now thrust in the spotlight.
For 2020, Navy Lt. Ara Gutierrez, Naval Readiness and Training Command Guantanamo Bay (NMRTC GB), was selected Navy Medicine’s Medical Technology Subspecialty Junior Officer of the Year.
”For our isolated duty station, getting supplies and resources as efficiently and quickly as possible is paramount in delivering patient care and it’s especially important for the laboratory department,” she explained. Gutierrez, who is the only military medical technologist on island explained, “We developed mitigation strategies to enhance chain of custody and reduce turnaround time for laboratory samples to get to reference laboratories.”
DoD has launched My MilLife Guide, a new program that sends text messages designed to help the military community boost overall wellness while navigating stresses related to COVID-19.