Expeditionary Medical Forces provide care for partner nation, raises health security and capabilities

Story by Christopher Delano

Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras –Expeditionary Medical Facility (EMF) Kilo personnel partnered with Joint Task Force-Bravo (JTF) for a Global Health Engagement (GHE) at Hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Sept. 14-28, 2024.

Bringing with them an array of medicine and equipment, EMF Kilo’s 11-person team worked alongside Hospital Escuela medical staff treating and performing surgical procedures on patients with oncologic or orthopedic traumatic injuries.

“During our time there we were able to complete 50 surgical cases, with 13 of those cases utilizing consumables donated from Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune or from Joint Task Force-Bravo, which is the local military organization that we are working in conjunction with here,” said Cmdr. Louis Lewandowski, EMF Kilo team lead and orthopedic surgeon.

JTF-Bravo has supported operations in Honduras for more than 20 years; this is the first Global Health Engagement that EMF Kilo has provided support for in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

“The entirety of the surgical procedures has been performed working very much shoulder-to-shoulder with the residents from the partner nation hospital, hospital Escuela, and that integration has been a key component in the ability to execute these cases,” said Lewandowski. “Many times, with some of the more complex cases, their hospital staff attending and facilitating both the exchanging of ideas and concepts was very much a two-way street in execution.”

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Marylyn Masmela, EMF Kilo’s surgical technologist, said the team planned for the lack of resources and worked closely with the local hospital to identify the caseload and the supplies required to meet that mission, but some challenges arose.

“From a tech standpoint it was a little tough getting used to their sets because they were very different from ours,” Masmela said. “But everyone was very helpful with getting everything that we needed and were able to coordinate as best as they could.”

As JTF-Bravo and EMF Kilo worked alongside Honduran medical professionals, providing orthopedic trauma capabilities to an underserviced population, the teams were able to build upon shared knowledge for future joint operations while raising Honduras’ overall health security and capability.

“The benefit [to the host nation] came from having our surgical technologist, our anesthesiologists, our nurses come to support evolutions that their surgical teams were already doing. It provided the hospital a little bit more opportunity to expand the number of rooms they were running in order to facilitate the cases,” said Lewandowski. “We’ve been able to both help them provide care, but also learned a lot from their experiences and how they are able to provide the best care they can with the tools that they have in a resource constrained environment.”

EMF Kilo donated the remaining consumables brought along for the mission back to Hospital Escuela.

Dr. Ery Martinez with Hospital Escuela shared his heartfelt appreciation, thanking HM3 and the group in general upon their departure. “Thank you for sharing your knowledge, time, and unconditional support for our hospital. [You] have strengthened ties between our counties and have shown the true meaning of solidarity and commitment.”

EMF Kilo was formally established in 2023 with U.S. Navy Captain Darryl Arfsten taking command. EMF Kilo is the readiness platform of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Camp Lejeune and is comprised of approximately 400 personnel ready to deploy field hospital capabilities during humanitarian or combat missions.