rutstein retirement sends shock waves throughout the commissioned

2010 Operation Arctic Care
LTJG Burbage applies fluoride
varnish during Operation Arctic
Care 2010
United States Public Health Service
(USPHS) officer, LTJG Katrina
Burbage, had the privilege of deploying
to Operation Arctic Care (AC) 2010.
LTJG Burbage, an Environmental
Health Officer, currently assigned
to the Alaska Native Tribal Health
Consortium in Anchorage, AK was
attached to a team from the U.S.
Army 994th Medical Detachment
Veterinary Services (MED DET VS)
from Round Rock, TX. As the largest
recurring joint services medical readiness
and logistics training exercise,
AC is sponsored by the Innovative
Readiness Program, under the Office of
the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Reserve Affairs. The operation provides
humanitarian assistance to underserved
American Indians and Alaska Natives.
AC 2010 was led by the U.S. Air Force
Reserve and was supported by airmen,
soldiers, sailors, a USPHS officer and
an Environmental Health Specialist
from the Yukon Kuskokwim Health
Corporation. For two weeks in April,
the joint-interagency, medical, dental
and veterinary services provided much
needed care to twelve remote Alaskan
villages within the Northwest Arctic
Borough region, located 32 miles above
the Arctic Circle. The land size of the
Northwest Arctic Borough’s is about
the size of Indiana.
Medical and dental services, though
available, require a person to travel 75-
150 miles to the hospital in the hub community
of Kotzebue. Travel is expensive
and often dangerous in this land where
wind-chills regularly reach 40-50º below
zero. There is no road system; travel is
limited to small aircraft, boats and All
Terrain Vehicles such as 4-wheelers
and snow machines. Veterinary services
are non-existent. Delivering this level
of care at the local level is invaluable in
such an isolated environment.
Five teams from the 994th MED DET
VS were comprised of approximately
seven individuals and were transported
between villages via Army National
Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters
to deliver veterinary care. LTJG
Burbage was actively involved in a
diverse range of activities. She assisted
the vet teams in administering rabies
vaccine to hundreds of animals. Rabies
is enzootic in foxes in Alaska; providing
rabies vaccine to pets is imperative in
protecting humans from the virus.
LTJG Burbage teamed with the Air
Force Reserve Public Health Officer,
and provided public health education
in the schools on dog bite prevention,
rabies control, the importance of hand
washing, and food safety. More than 50
classes were conducted with over 400
attendees.
Additionally, LTJG Burbage had the
opportunity to be trained in fluoride
application. She teamed with Air Force
dental hygienists to apply fluoride
varnish treatments to children’s teeth in
the local schools. Many remote villages
lack direct dental services. Preventive
dental care is critical in these remote areas
where the prevalence of oral disease
is the highest in the nation.
AC 2010 offered a unique opportunity
and experience for all who participated.
LTJG Burbage, said, “it was an honor
to work alongside so many men and
women from the other services in a
public health effort. Their professionalism
was evident in all that they did, and
I am thankful to have been a part of it.”
AC 2010 provided services in an area
of much need, and the residents greatly
benefited from them. Operation AC
is in its sixteenth year. This year 263
military personnel participated.
6 commissioned officers association