JASPER — Last Thursday was day 3 of no-cost medical services provided to the community through Mission: Ozark Wellness, currently held at both the Jasper School and Kingston School campuses.
After 2 ½ days of operations a total of 174 patients were at Jasper and 86 patients at Kingston. Seventeen pair of glasses have been made. The veterinarians have seen 97 patients and completed 240 procedures (spay/neuter, vaccines, wellness exams).
LTC Kristin Porter, US Army Reserve, the public affairs officer for the Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) mission, was on the Jasper site and took the opportunity to highlight the behavioral health services available to the community.
She noted the many areas of treatment being provided including:
• Individual and family counseling
• Anger management
• PTSD
• Grief and loss
• Aging
• Stress management
• Sleep
• Substance abuse
• Conflict resolution
• Teen counseling,
• ADHD assessments for children grades K-12.
Porter also provided background on the IRT program.
A community entity must submit a request and show a need for specific services to the Department of Defense (DOD) , which is like a grant process. Service needs must fall under medical, cybersecurity, civil engineering, transportation, or aerial spray and take place within the United States and its territories.
The DOD then matches that need with a military unit that can provide the services to the community.
With IRT Ozark Wellness, the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District submitted a request for medical services, and the DOD matched that request with the Army Reserve and units from the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support). From there, military personnel and the NWAEDD began a year-long planning process identifying the need (optometry, dental, medical, and veterinary) and working the logistics for this year’s mission. The community partner must provide a work and bed-down/shower site for the soldiers (Kingston and Jasper schools). The military unit provides the service members, their meals, and the medical formulary and equipment. This year there are approximately 100 Army Reserve soldiers on ground split between the Jasper and Kingston locations, Porter said.
The significance of IRT missions is two-fold. First, these missions are primarily done by military Reserve units (Army Reserve, Army National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, or Navy and Marine Reserve) as their two-week annual training (AT) requirement. Often, AT consists of going to the field and training on medical simulators. But in the IRT missions, licensed and credentialed healthcare providers work with real patients, further enhancing their medial skills. Coming to an IRT location also simulates a mobilization with medical logistics, personnel movement, setting up a clinic in an austere site and not falling in on an established medical clinic. For the DOD to approve the IRT match, the mission must show soldiers are being trained – on mobilization, medical professional development, military skills, cross-training skills, etc.
The second part of the IRT mission is the significant benefit to the community. All services are provided at no cost to the community or anyone receiving services. There is no requirement for ID or insurance. There is no sign up online as that could possibly disadvantage other people, and the services are provided to assist as many as possible with a need.
"As Reserve Soldiers, our healthcare providers many times do the same or similar jobs in their civilian positions. Our veterinarians, dentists, optometrists, behavioral health specialists, and family medicine doctors often come from private practice clinics, bringing both military and civilian medicine experience. Coming to an IRT mission is one of the most coveted AT missions for our Soldiers as they further train in their military medical specialties, but it’s primarily the feeling of helping a community that keep soldiers volunteering for IRT missions. I’ve heard more stories than I can count from dentists helping a patient who has had a toothache for years and are finally without pain, and people bringing in their beloved pets for vaccines or spay/neuter, but my favorite was an optometrist talking about an elderly woman who cried when she was finally able to see when she received a new pair of glasses," Porter said.
In the past 3 years, the 807th MC(DS) has participated in IRTs as the lead military element and as a partner with other military services in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Texas, Montana, California, Hawaii, Alaska, and Saipan.
The NWAEDD partnered with the Delta Regional Authority to conduct an IRT in 2019 and again in 2023.
Last year, the IRT in Yellville provided over $700,000 worth of no-cost medical and veterinary care to more than 1,500 patients. For this year’s mission, the NWAEDD submitted the IRT request as an individual 501c3 entity, as part of their territory falls outside of the Delta region.
