CAMP BANGO, Senegal -- Unlike Saint Louis, Missouri there is no arch donning the water ways of Saint Louis, Senegal. Instead, ramshackle huts and abandoned concrete buildings are visible while donkeys and cows pull carts and goats roam free to eat from trash thrown into the streets.
More than 60 Sailors, Marines and Airmen visited the Saint Louis area here Sept 2-14, not for the allure of tourist attractions, but to participate in exercise MedFlag 06. Service members from 4th Medical Battalion, 4th Dental Battalion, 4th Civil Affairs Group, Personnel Retrieval and Processing Company, and 6th Communications Battalion, and augments from U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe participated in the exercise.
MedFlag is an annual U.S. European Command scheduled, joint and combined military exercise aimed at enhancing the friendship with our African allies and providing an opportunity to train with foreign medical personnel and build relationships in the region. The MedFlag 06 activities in Senegal are one of four events that fall under the umbrella of Headquarters, U.S. Air Force Europe and are in concert with similar training taking place simultaneously in Nigeria, Benin and Ghana by U.S. Army and Air Force personnel.
During MedFlag service members participated in humanitarian civil assistance projects, simulated mass casualty drills, and conducted medical civic action to improve their deployment readiness and promote interoperability with the host nation.
The exercise is broken down into three phases, said Navy Capt. Victor Hall, MedFlag’s officer in charge. “The first is to share our military medical tactics and techniques and to show off our capabilities in a combat environment. The second phase is a mass casualty exercise. The third phase is the Medical Capability. These will be a test of how two nations would come together in real world scenarios. [Senegal] has involved themselves in a lot of deployments and United Nations support missions, so I think they will gain a little more appreciation into what we do, and conversely we will have a very good appreciation for what their capabilities are,” said Hall.
During the medical capability phase the medical staff packed up their gear and traveled to secluded Senegalese villages on four different occasions to provide free limited medical and dental care to the local communities.
Upon their arrival, they are repeatedly greeted by hundreds of brightly dressed women clinging to their children and haggard looking men. Looks of desperation are replaced with those of hope.
“Their faces just light up when they saw us arrive,” says Navy Lt. Dagoberto Perez, a nurse with 4th Med Bn.
“This is the highlight for a lot of us in this operation, we do medical training all the time, we do mass casualty all the time, but for these men and women from the U.S., they are providing humanitarian aid to people who really appreciate it, who really need it, they can walk away knowing that they came and really did some good,” says Hall.
A half hour after arriving, the bustle of the medical operations begins in an elementary school. The school, now a clinic, is separated into three areas of care; general medicine, dental and optometry. The flow of patients is constant for the next nine hours.
In optometry, they provide eye exams and offer out more than 2,500 free eyeglasses donated by the Lions Club, “Lions Recycle for Sight” program. However, some patients are past the stage where eyeglasses are the solution.
“The most common problem here is age related cataracts,” said Air Force Maj. Carl Boeck, an ophthalmologist from the 452nd Aerial Medical and Dental Squadron from Riverside, Calif. “We are seeing it at an average age of 40 to 50 where as in the states we treat it at an age of 70 to 80. A lot of that has to do with basic poor nutrition from the time you’re born.”
In a nearby classroom, members of 4th Dental Bn. are busy extracting teeth. Due to time and equipment constraints, extractions are the only procedure they perform during the MedCaps. But there is no shortage of work awaiting them. During the four days, they will pull 773 teeth from 261 patients: more than 28 mouths worth of not-so-pearly-whites.
“What’s interesting is, they will have us take out what’s otherwise a healthy tooth that needs a filling in it before they have us take out the blown out rotten ones, because they can still feel those. The others are so rotted they can’t feel them anymore. It’s that one cavity that wakes them up at night that they want out,” says Cmdr. Bradley Silva, a reconstructive dentist from La Mesa, Calif.
“All these teeth really need to go,” says Silva, referring to a row of blackish gray stumps imbedded in one woman’s jaw. “But she want this one out,” he says pointing to one of about four recognizable teeth in her mouth. “It’s a matter of pride for them to keep what they have.”
“Good teeth are usually determined by your genes,” explains Petty Officer 1st Class Claudia Ortega, a dental technician from Los Angeles. “A lot of the problems we see here are due to poor hygiene and lack of education on how to take care of your teeth.”
Most patients are sent away with ibuprofen for their post Novocain pain, as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste, but it is unclear if they will actually use these for their intended purpose.
Although the official language in Senegal is French, in the outlying areas many speak Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, or Mandinka depending on their ethnic group. The Marine Corps French translators are challenged when it comes to translating Wolof and rely on the local translators. Much is left up to hand gestures.
“If they spoke French we could stumble our way through, it’s the Wolof that we have no clue. We can’t even fake it,” says Silva.
Sometimes hand gestures are not needed. The general medicine area, which includes an area for pediatrics and infectious diseases, is where the reality of being in a third world country hits hard. Swollen, pitted, infected feet; frail men and women being carried by family members; and small children of just skin and bones pass through the doors.
Shortly before the clinic is due to close, a young woman in her mid-twenties comes in carrying a bundle of cloth. The woman unwraps the bundle, exposing a delicate infant. The mother informs the Senegalese doctor who is translating, that the month-old baby will no longer eat. The translation wasn’t necessary.
“If we were in the states, we would have called in a life flight already. That baby may have a chance with [intensive neo-natal care,]” whispers Lt. Cmdr. John Fortunato, a pediatrician with 4th Med Bn.
Unable to meet the babies needs themselves, the doctors suggest the mother take the baby to a clinic for care. But in the discussion of what care the baby should receive, the mother quietly slips away. She won’t be able to afford the clinic.
Thankfully many patients who come through the clinic have less severe medical conditions. Parasites, arthritis, malnutrition are the most common issues. Every person who comes to the clinic is given de-worming medicine for the parasites and all children leave with vitamins.
“We give them medicine, but this only cures them for a while,” said Perez. “After the medicine runs out, they are going to go back to drinking the bathing in the same dirty water. But I think what we do here is bigger than just giving them free meds, mostly all they want is peace of mind.”
After the four days of MedCaps, the MedFlag team has seen the bad and beautiful sides of African life. They have personally touched over 2,800 people.
“Have we made a huge difference here? No, I don’t think so,” admits Perez. Life still goes on for the Senegalese like it did before MedFlag06, “but for those we did touch now at the very least, now they know someone cares.”