Free medical, dental, other services in July

From left, Tech. Sgt Otis Youngblood, Lt. Col. Andrew Adamich, Jonas Okawa, Master Sgt. Tammy Annis, Commonwealth Bureau of Military Affairs’ Daisy Babauta, Capt. Penny Cannon, Liela Yumul, Maj. Samantha Madsen, CBMA chief and special assistant for Military Affairs Glenna Sakisat Palacios, Maj. Daniel LaVorgna, SFC Tausha Harr, CHCC’s John Tagabuel, Capt. Chrystal Warburton, CBMA’s Coryn Achas, LTC Eugene Johnson. In 2023, the “Operation Wellness CNMI” IRT Project will provide residents of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota with full medical support services by the various service components of the Department of Defense. (LEIGH GASES)

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training Program will be fielding 125 staff members to the CNMI for two weeks in July next year to provide free health, dental, and optometric services, among others, in the Commonwealth.

To be called “Operation Wellness CNMI,” residents of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota will receive free dentistry, optometry, general health and wellness, behavioral health, dietitian, public health education, and veterinary services from July 9 to July 23, 2023.

This was learned during press briefing last Friday at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, with Innovative Readiness Training program manager Maj. Daniel LaVorgna saying that “Operation Wellness CNMI” will have the U.S. Army Reserve leading the program, along with the Air National Guard, active-duty U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, and the Air Force Reserves, “so it’s [going to] be very much a joint type mission.”

LaVorgna, who was in the CNMI last June during a free veterinary mission where they serviced over 300 pets in the CNMI, said the upcoming project will be “the first time to do this level of expansion. Last [fiscal] year, we just did vet services—we just did sterilization for animals and some minor surgeries. So, this [coming] year, we’re expanding this to the CNMI population.”

LaVorgna said that July’s IRT outreach will give the service components of the U.S. armed forces “an opportunity to do some hands-on training, because a lot of our training platforms don’t give people the ability to…do some real-world training, so this kind of affords them that opportunity to do that. Of course…for the community, they get the incidental benefit…of the services that we would come on in and provide. It’s a win-win, really.”

The project is made possible by the Commonwealth Bureau of Military Affairs, at the direction of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, in partnership with LaVorgna, IRT program manager of the US Army Command.

CBMA and the U.S. Army Command kicked off their joint IRT project with the initial weeklong planning conference last week.

CBMA is mandated, in part, “to facilitate the integration of military personnel into our community; to seek out employment and economic development opportunities; and to pursue a mutually beneficial partnership between the CNMI and Department of Defense, among other things.”

Through its Community Relations Program, CBMA is tapping into DoD programs that provide mutual benefits to the military and the CNMI community, said Glenna Sakisat Palacios, special assistant for Military Affairs.

“Similar to the IRT Veterinary Services that was successfully executed last summer, the Operation CNMI Wellness Project is an expansion of our [community relations] program initiative to integrate military resources that would provide impactful benefits to our community, said Palacios.

She thanked LaVorgna “for his guidance and support to secure approval of our community application, and for working closely with CBMA and participating partners to bring this much needed services to the CNMI. I also extend our appreciation to both our military and local community partners for their commitments to ensure this important project will be executed successfully this summer for the mutual benefits of our CNMI residents and our military personnel.”

LaVorgna, for his part, acknowledged Palacios’ role in bringing the IRT to the CNMI.

“I cannot overstate the level of importance that Ms. Glenna Palacios has played in getting this program started,” said LaVorgna. “She is instrumental in bringing the IRT to the CNMI. She worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get this off the ground, working with me to ensure funding and legal requirements of the application process is met, close coordination among participating units from 14 time zones away, and we could not have done it without her and we definitely appreciate her partnership.”