US service members provide medical care for El Salvadoran citizens in AMISTAD campaign

Story by Tech. Sgt. Justin Norton

302nd Airlift Wing

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. — More than 40 personnel from 15 units across three U.S. military service branches participated in a campaign to augment health services in multiple locations across El Salvador, Aug. 19 to Sep. 6.

Service members supported the AMISTAD campaign by integrating with existing El Salvadoran Ministry of Health services and exchanging knowledge with Salvadoran healthcare professionals while promoting the health and well-being of their nation’s citizens.

“Our purpose here was to deploy medical assistance teams to increase the medical readiness of U.S. forces and strengthen U.S. relationships in El Salvador,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Anthony Boudreau, 302nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron nurse and mission commander for the campaign. “We wanted to exchange knowledge with one another and increase our interoperability with our partner nation.”

During the AMISTAD campaign, U.S. forces from nine medical specialties accomplished more than 1,500 patient actions and delivered $100,000+ in supplies to Hospital San Bartolo, Unidad Familiar de Salud Ilopango, Hospital Cojutepeque, Unidad Familiar de Salud Cojutepeque, Hospital Chalatenango, Unidad de Salud Chalatenango, Hospital El Salvador and surrounding communities. They also delivered equipment and infusion pumps designed to combat the spread of Dengue, a break-bone fever-inducing viral infection that spreads through mosquito bites.

During the first week teams augmented emergency departments, mental health clinics, pediatrics wards, optometry sections, and more to support doctors and nurses providing diagnoses and patient treatment.

Additionally, crews supported outreach clinics established during the second week to provide care to citizens in surrounding communities. Service members brought supplies and equipment with them to address the needs of walk-in patients away from the vicinity of established hospitals. They worked with healthcare professionals from the El Salvadoran Ministry of Health every step of the way.

Multiple locations were repurposed to be used as temporary walk-in clinics. Physicians, primary care providers and dentists used available spaces at schoolhouses, basketball courts and more as working areas to write prescriptions, deliver vaccines, treat symptoms and provide dental cleaning services.

Along with providing real-world patient care, knowledge-exchange events were planned so nurses and practitioners from both nations could share best practices in their respective fields.

U.S. servicemembers conducted Advanced Trauma Life Support courses as well as Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics training.

The ATLS course, led by U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Andrea Blake, 302 ASTS trauma surgeon, provided attendees with an approach to manage multiply injured patients by quickly assessing their conditions, stabilizing them and preparing them for transport to elevated levels of care. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Adriane Bell, Womack Army Medical Center family medicine faculty, led the ALSO course which educated participants on various methods of delivering a newborn when complications arise during childbirth. The training included hands-on training using mannequins at the Instituto Nacional de Salud.

U.S. Air Force Capt. Diana Trang, 60th Medical Group family medicine faculty, led a training course demonstrating the utility of point-of-care ultrasound technology. Nurses and doctors listened to a classroom training section before training on each other using ultrasound gel and mobile hospital beds.

“We’re here as part of our training with our residents so they can have experience in areas that have different resources than we typically do in the U.S.,” said Trang. “So with this collaboration, I think it’s great we’re able to share our resources with them and compare and contrast the different types of courses that we offer and strengthen both of our healthcare systems.”

Twelfth Air Force (Air Forces Southern), in conjunction with U.S. Southern Command’s Humanitarian Civic Assistance program, donated three point-of-care ultrasound hand instruments for use at major hospitals and one for sustainment training in the Instituto Nacional de Salud.

U.S. Air Force mental health specialists also organized a symposium for healthcare workers explaining an emerging model of mental healthcare that may better address the overarching needs of a population.

“The Primary Care Behavioral Health Model integrates behavioral services into primary care clinics,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Levi Cole, 147th Medical Group clinical psychologist. “This model prioritizes improving the physical and mental health of an entire community. Here in El Salvador, our site visits revealed they experience many of the same challenges we experience in the United States. This new model could be helpful to their hospital clinics as well.”

Communications barriers were addressed throughout the campaign. In many cases, patients or providers only spoke English or Spanish and couldn’t understand one another. Translators facilitated communication at each location ensuring providers could understand one another and that patients were able to receive the care they needed.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Alexandra Albis, 189th Medical Group public health technician and AMISTAD translator, said patients were overwhelmingly grateful for the presence of U.S. servicemembers and repeatedly asked when they would be returning to provide additional care.

Boudreau said missions like AMISTAD help foster relationships for more rapid communication. When U.S. service members know their partner nation’s capabilities, then embedded health engagement teams are more prepared to respond to public health disasters in the region, he explained.

Teams can treat the mission like a deployment operation where they coordinate with multiple medical DoD providers and technicians across various specialties with constrained resources, said Boudreau. He said the group performed tremendously well.

U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Joseph Kim, 302nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron senior air reserve technician and director of operations for the mission, addressed a large portion of the team on their final day supporting the AMISTAD campaign.

“All of you made this a successful mission, and you have our deepest gratitude,” said Kim. “The beauty of U.S. military members is that we can come together from various backgrounds to be a team that will give it all they have to accomplish the mission. You helped local communities and please know that you made a difference to the beautiful country of El Salvador.”