Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors work together to give sight to Alaskan villagers

by Staff Sgt. J. Paul Croxon
Defense Media Activity-San Antonio

4/14/2010 - KOTZEBUE, Alaska (AFNS) -- In a remote Alaskan village, 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle, an 8-year-old boy named Jason complained to his parents that he couldn't see the school chalkboard. But Jason received his first pair of glasses from Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors deployed here as part of Operation Artic Care.

Operation Arctic Care id an annual innovative readiness training operation where medical team members deploy to isolated locations in Alaska and provide care to communities with little or no access to medical facilities.

The optometry team here is made up of active duty, Guard and Reserve components and is part of the main hub for eyeglass fabrication and is able to rapidly diagnose and correct common vision problems.

"I was anxious about what types of eye health problems we would see on this deployment," said Tech. Sgt. Christy Shortridge, an ophthalmic technician and traditional reservist from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "The most common problem we're seeing is (far-sightedness), which means the patient can't see things up close but can see things in the distance. We're able to hand these patients a new pair of glasses in a day that would sometimes take weeks to make for base unit."

Part of that speed comes from the joint nature of the makeshift optometry clinic. The Reserve and Guard doctors and technicians work with their active-duty counterparts who deployed with the equipment needed to make the glasses.

Patients like Jason typically receive an exam by a technician like Sergeant Shortridge, that, among other things, narrows down his prescription. Then he his eyes are dilated and an optometrist gives him a more extensive exam and, if needed, writes a prescription before Jason picks out his frames.

"The nice thing about this is that the patients get to pick from a selection of civilian frames," said Tech. Sgt. David Hauser of the deployed team. "They're not getting military issue glasses."

Jason's frame selection and prescription are then given to the fabrication section in an adjacent room where Sailors and Soldiers find the right lenses from a stock of more than 13,000 and grind them to fit his frames using automated grinding machines. The lenses and frames are then assembled and given quality checks before giving Jason his first pair of glasses.

"It only takes about five minutes to complete the fabrication," said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Phillip Cowger, deployed from the Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity. "Once we get the prescription we basically find the lens, find the axis and grind them to a pattern. This is the first deployment I've been on and it's great that we're able to help fellow Americans who have a real need."

"About eight out of 10 patients leave with a prescription," said Maj. Jeff Autrey, an optometrist deployed from Davis-Mothan AFB, Ariz. "Out of those needing glasses, we're able to make glasses for about 90 percent of them. For the rest we fax in the prescription and they are sent out."

For the team, the opportunity to improve the vision and eye health of the villagers is a rewarding way to train. Giving a child his first pair of glasses is even more special.

"It's grand. It's great," Sergeant Shortridge said. "Across the board in optometry, when you can help people see it's a great feeling. Imagine walking around fuzzy all the time and then being able to see clearly. It's just great."