Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio is giving recent graduates of the Medical Education and Training Campus Biomedical Equipment Technician School practical experience by attacking maintenance backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
''Because of the COVID-19 closure, we got behind on our preventive maintenance inspections,'' said Navy Chief Petty Officer David Snow, the senior enlisted leader of the research unit.
More than 1,300 pieces of medical and dental research equipment are in worksites at the Tri Service Research Laboratory and at the Battlefield Health Trauma Building, both located at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Snow and two defense contractors, all former Navy BMET instructors at the school, are maintaining NAMRU-SA's biomedical equipment.
''It's a daunting task for three individuals,'' Snow said. ''One of the three of us is there supervising and doing quality control to ensure everything was done to the manufacturer's specifications.''
Snow said he knew that if the backlog got worse, it might jeopardize battlefield health research. With a recent memorandum of understanding between NAMRU-SA and NMTSC, which allowed for mutual assistance whenever possible, Snow was able to gain support from the executive officers of both commands, and eight recent BMET graduates reported for work at NAMRU-SA on May 18.
The new BMET graduates work with NAMRU-SA for three eight-hour days each week to aid in reducing the maintenance backlog.
The new graduates document their work in the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support, where their efforts are reviewed for accuracy. It's a confidence-builder and exactly what the BMETs will be doing when they get to their shops.
''I was a little bit nervous about leaving here because I have never been a BMET before,'' Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Walker said. Prior to attending the BMET course, Walker was a Navy dental technician. His next assignment is at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia.
''Having this experience is going to help me slide into my next assignment pretty smoothly,'' he said.
(Randy Martin is assigned to Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio.)
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