Joint leaders meet, improve medical logistics

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman John Linzmeier
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, JAPAN --  More than 40 Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Department of Defense civilians gathered here to attend the first U.S. Pacific Command Medical Logistics Workshop held on Okinawa.

The three-day workshop was hosted by the Theater Lead Agent Medical Materiel - Pacific and enabled leadership throughout the PACOM theater to look at the mission requirements and determine the best way to overcome operational constraints from a joint perspective.

"Working groups such as this one help us iron out the wrinkles in the medical supply distribution program in the Pacific," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Deidre Lockhart, U.S. Army Pacific Surgeon's Office support operations chief. "This in turn ensures we can get supplies to providers and medics with the mission to care for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines, Not to mention their families as well; in both peacetime and crisis."

The DoD provides medical care to its service members whether they're at home station or deployed to locations all over the world.

"To provide care to patients, the DoD must ensure its health care providers have the proper medical materiel resources and equipment to deliver effective health care," said Lt. Col. Randall Ivall, Air Force Medical Operations Agency medical logistics deputy chief. 

Communication between medical personnel is vital to maintaining warfighting capabilities and providing aid on humanitarian missions. If supplies are not distributed to the right place at the right time, the consequences can be paramount.

"Medical supplies two weeks late are too costly; both monetarily and in lives lost, said Lockhart, "and that's true in war and with natural disasters,"

Operating in an overseas environment with limited resources requires logistics teams to come up with creative solutions in order to deliver medical supplies to forces on the ground, including members from allied nations, such as Australia, South Korea and Japan.

Unlike normal operations where many logisticians are required to communicate with each other from overseas locations, participants used the face-to-face opportunity to better communicate their different needs, capabilities and ideas to improve operations.

"People are walking away from this with a better understanding of each other's capabilities and limitations, and that's the key," said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Olusegun Olabode, 3rd Medical Logistics Company, 3rd Supply Battalion commander. "It all goes back to understanding what each and every one of us brings to the fight. This way, we can leverage each other and fill any gaps in our methods so we can provide optimum patient care."