HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- A revitalized partnership between the 66th Medical Squadron and U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass. is proving to be beneficial to lab staff, technicians and patients here.
As the only active-duty military treatment facility in Massachusetts, 66 MDS provides outpatient treatment to service members from all branches throughout the region.
Several years ago, the 66 MDS clinic and USARIEM formed an agreement allowing Army medics to come and assist in the lab as their mission permitted.
“The USARIEM medics asked to assist in our lab so they can retain their clinical skills,” said Tech. Sgt. Clayton Proffer, 66 MDS laboratory noncommissioned officer in charge. “We get manpower, and they get training. It’s reciprocal.”
USARIEM is a human performance research facility that focuses on environmental medicine, physical and cognitive performance, physiology and nutrition. The mission requires medics to focus on research rather than clinical skills.
Not wanting those skills to deteriorate, the Army medics sought to take advantage of the agreement with the Hanscom AFB clinic.
Proffer’s team jumped at the opportunity, taking immediate steps to make it happen, which included training on the MHS Genesis electronic health record system.
U.S. Army Sgt. Jasmine Robinson Espinoza, a USARIEM medical laboratory noncommissioned officer, was the first to volunteer.
“Sgt. Robinson was motivated to complete the Air Force’s training requirements and start working with us,” Proffer said. “She was here within a few weeks, and she was a tremendous help.”
This summer, Robinson spent approximately 20 days in the Hanscom AFB lab.
Proffer said Robinson’s presence and ability to provide quality patient care allowed the MDS lab technicians to focus on lab operations behind the scenes.
Robinson provided specimen collection services to nearly 160 patients, trained two 66 MDS medical technicians in lab processes and procedures and assisted with batching specimens for shipment.
“The 66 MDS lab was able to balance her requirements here in Natick with their schedule,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kyle Reitnauer, USARIEM noncommissioned officer in charge. “If she needed to be on the shooting range for training, she was.”
Proffer called the partnership a “resounding success,” and USARIEM leaders agree.
“We’d like for this partnership to continue and for more of our soldiers take advantage of it,” Reitnauer said. “It is great for maintaining their skills and the Hanscom clinic gets the assistance that they need.”