Army Reserve Helps Those In Need
Special guests joined the Turtle Bay Resort ‘Ohana (family) this past week.
Towards the the end of my college career in the early 1980′s, I joined the National Guard, where I served as an interrogator with a military intelligence unit. As a member of the National Guard, we spent two weeks a year doing wonderful things. We guarded the western deserts from all possible intruders and as linguists we translated information that was passed down to our unit. I trust that my unit, because of their phenomenal skills, played an important part in world politics during the 1980′s and that we might have had a part to play, with President Reagan, in bringing down the Berlin Wall. But because our skills pertained to opportunities that only could be used behind what during my term of service was the “iron curtain” (I was in a Bulgarian language unit), there was little we could do but be ready for opportunity, which we continually prepared for and we were ready to serve when called upon.
I have now spent a wonderful couple of weeks with some fantastic people who were able to directly serve people who needed their services and who got to see the results of that service during their two weeks of duty. With housing assistance from Turtle Bay Resort and with location assistance from Brigham Young University Hawaii and others, the 7202nd Medical Support Unit from Richmond, Virginia, set up a program with the local Kahuku Medical Center, a non-profit entity that services the local people that live in one of the most beautiful localities in the world, yet literally live, at best, from paycheck to paycheck. Although known world-wide for the finest that surfing has to offer with the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and other top world events, the North Shore of O’ahu has many homeless families and children who have been forced to live that way not because of drugs, alcohol or other abuses, but solely because of the phenomenal rising costs of living in paradise.
So imagine the respect and appreciation when Doctors and Dentists from Richmond, Virginia, came to the North Shore to give free services to those who need it most. “We have been checking for an assortment of health related issues and identifying those that need additional care”, said Lt. Col Thomas Murphy, Officer in charge of the hospital team for the 7202nd. “Since we have been here we have gone to six schools and screened over 500 students. Many of these students and their families do not have the means to get these screenings on their own due to finances. We are offering these screenings, as well as general athletic physicals to the student population at no cost to the individual”. Also according to Lt. Col. Murphy, the biggest need in the area has been dental care. “For whatever reason, there are no dentists in this area,” he said. “We have been seeing a lot of patients that have not had a dental screening in over 10 years.”
Personally awestruck at what has been accomplished through the Kahuku Medical Center and the 7202nd, all we can say is thank you very much. As a previous member of the National Guard, I know that for those who serve, it is their responsibility. But on behalf of our local community, please accept our “mahalo nui loa”, our greatest thanks, for what the 7202nd and the Kahuku Medical Center provided our local community. We are most proud to have you as special and honored guests of Turtle Bay Resort!
April 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
That’s really generous