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8th Medical Support Squadron supplies clinic with mission necessities

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  You arrive at the 8th Medical Group clinic for your medical appointment and check in. You answer a few questions from the technician and then are seen by the doctor. He gives you a prescription, you have it filled at the pharmacy, and you return to work.

But how was the clinic able to schedule that appointment? Where did the technician get her checklist and the doctor his examination equipment? How did the pharmacy get the medicine to fill that prescription?

The answer to all these questions is the 8th Medical Support Squadron.

"The support squadron is here to sustain all the operating missions in the clinic; that means funds are available, their information systems are operable, everyone's readiness is up to date, and we're getting the right supplies to the right place at the right time," said Master Sgt. Vurtis Cunningham, 8th MDSS superintendent. The squadron also maintains war reserve material, or WRM, packages to sustain the 8th Medical Group if any wartime contingencies happened, he said.

To accomplish their mission, the 8 MDSS maintains two flights, the medical logistics flight and the business operations and beneficiary information systems flight.

"Medical logistics defends the base by providing the clinic anything and everything they need to do their jobs, from pens and pencils, to medication, to X-ray film ... whatever they need, we will get it," said Tech. Sgt. Charity Dice, NCO in charge of medical logistics.

Sergeant Dice said the flight also alerts the pharmacy of any medicine recalls, re-packs the first-aid kits issued to the Wolf Pack, and in wartime would be responsible for issuing each person's biological and chemical warfare medication and injection kits.

The flight is also responsible for the group's WRM, biomedical equipment repair, warehouses and its facility management.

The WRM assemblages are expansion packages ready for follow-on forces to set up and treat the Wolf Pack in a contingency situation, said Staff Sgt. Omar Garcia, NCO in charge of WRM. The unit also maintains eight home-station medical response packages.

"They are the first responders to any situation requiring their specific expertise," Sergeant Garcia said. "They keep us defending the base."

"This is how we take care of the No. 1 weapons system here - the people," Sergeant Cunningham added. "Each HSMR package is a different capability, and the WRM packages help us accept our follow-on forces so we can continue to sustain our mission."

Should the situation arise, the WRM packages would make the 8 MDG the largest medical facility in the southern region of the Korean peninsula, Sergeant Cunningham said.

Airman Griffith said a large part of his section's mission is ensuring the group's WRM equipment is ready at any moment.

"Biomedical equipment repair maintains and calibrates all the medical equipment on base," said Senior Airman George Griffith, medical maintenance technician. "We are responsible for all the equipment in our facility, the WRM assets, the defibrillators in the fire department and around the base, and more. Our biggest support to the mission is that we maintain the WRM equipment so it is ready to be used on patients; as soon as follow-on forces arrive they can get that equipment and get right to work," he said.

The business operations and beneficiary information systems flight is responsible for resource management, information systems, TRICARE operations, outpatient records, patient administration and medical readiness.

"Resource management funds anything required in this hospital, from manpower issues, to getting money to logistics for the equipment they need," said Tech. Sgt. Daniel Johnson, NCO in charge of records.

The information systems element protects the infrastructure of the 8 MDG's facilities, Sergeant Johnson said.

"We have an electronic medical record system called AHLTA - any time a patient is seen it is entered in that system, which can be seen at any Department of Defense facility around the world," he said. "If that information isn't protected, then you won't get the proper care you need to have."

The element is also responsible for the group's mainframe servers, individual e-mail, drive access and Secure Internet Protocol Router access, he said.

Sergeant Johnson said the TRICARE operations element is responsible for patient care. The element enrolls Wolf Pack members into the facility and assigns them to a primary care manager. They also ensure that patients with medical needs that can't be sustained at the clinic, gets them the proper care whether it's in the local area, at another base on the peninsula, in the Pacific Air Forces command or even back to the United States. If necessary, the element is also responsible for Medical Evaluation Board processing.

The records element not only maintains the Wolf Pack's medical records, but is responsible for the clinic front desk and appointment line as well.

"We maintain more than 2,500 active-duty personnel records, as well as some retirees, dependents and civilians," Sergeant Johnson said. He said their biggest program is the service treatment records program, which ensures with 100-percent accountability that all medical records are sent to the Air Force Personnel Center for Airmen separating or retiring, or to a member's next base for those changing stations, because most military members no longer hand-carry their records.

Patient administration is responsible for the medical clearances of Airmen's family members when required for their permanent change-of-station move, Sergeant Johnson said. The element also makes the proper notifications to an Airman's chain of command when he or she is admitted to a hospital.

The medical readiness flight ensures all 8 MDG Airmen are trained and ready to receive patients, said Capt. Stacy Fackelman, medical readiness flight commander.

"We also prepare to accept follow-on forces and coordinate with each group to ensure our WRM operation can be established," she said. "If necessary, the squadron mans a contingency AERO-EVAC staging facility, so it's important we have the additional manning to run that expanded capability."

With all its responsibilities, the 8th MDSS staff remains ready at any time to meet their part of the Wolf Pack mission to defend the base, accept follow-on forces and take the fight north.

"Our Airmen are doing fantastic; our readiness percentages are very high, immunizations are on point and overall everyone is good to go," Sergeant Cunningham said. "Our new Airmen are eager to learn the mission here and morale across the squadron is considerably high, even with our enormous and very fast operations tempo. I'm very proud of them."