40 U.S. soldiers from the 396th combat support hospital are in the Toledo District providing primary health care. Over the next 10 days the teams will make their way to Santa Ana, Santa Theresa and San Antonio Villages. Yesterday official opening ceremonies were held in San Antonio where we found the medical team ready for the first full day of work.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Dozens of residents of San Antonio Village in the Toledo District queued up for primary healthcare services offered by U.S. Soldiers of the 366th Combat Support Hospital. Major Gregory Keopke is the officer commanding the detachment.
Major Gregory Keopke,
"We'll be providing level one healthcare to the communities of Belize at three schools. This is our first school, San Antonio. We are going to go to Santa Theresa and Santa Ana. We have a dentist; we have optometry; we have glasses that we can give to the members that need care that way; a dentist is going to be here if somebody has a tooth has been bothering them, we can have it extracted pain free; and also we have five medical teams that include a doctor, a nurse, and a paramedic. And we will be administering level one healthcare, teaching preventative care; how to brush teeth, giving out vitamins, treating common illnesses and infections, and what not that way. We are promoting good will to our fellow men. We are seeing those in these communities that are less fortunate and don't have the assets that we have in America to healthcare."
Dr. Bhupathi Raju is the chief of staff for the Punta Gorda Town Hospital. He says that the attention these soldiers deliver to the interior of the Toledo District provide easy access to healthcare, where usually there is little
Dr. Bhupathi Raju, P.G. Hospital
"We usually get great help from these services that they give to these people. Most of the people due to poverty and transportation problems they can't reach the hospital in time and this helps them a lot. They give a great help in these services because people really need, and sometimes they might can't reach a hospital because of a lack of money or transportation and these are the type of services that help the community."
And while the residents of the villages benefit from the Medrete Exercise, Commander of the Belize Defense Force Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett says the U.S and Belizean soldiers also gain something valuable.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, BDF Commander
"It is very important for us for our interpreters to get a chance to practice their skills. Members of this communit6y may not speak English and so we have Ketchi and Mayan speakers that come out and they are able to translate if that is necessary. We also have our medics that accompany these deployments and they get practical expertise dealing with the different cases that show up. So it is important for us to have the BDF cooperate but in the end we're delivering a service to the community. Many members of this community serve in the BDF and so it is important for us that these villages continue to stay healthy so that we can continue to recruit in the Toledo District."
And as they do so the ones with most need are getting attention delivered to their front doors.
The doctors are here as part of the U.S. Medrette Training program, they will be in the country for the next 8 days. In April of this year there will be a second similar exercise in the Belize District.
