Story by: Sgt Suzanna Carter
Posted: September 19, 2014
Sgt. Suzanne Carter
Representatives of Chilean military and a Chilean national emergency response agency examine samples of sugar contents in popular beverages at a health awareness booth during Operation Lone Star in Laredo, Texas, Aug. 6, 2014. The officials visited Operation Lone Star to see how multiple agencies collaborate to plan and implement this annual medical and emergency preparedness exercise. The Operation Lone Star partnership between Texas Military Forces, Texas Department of State Health Services and other state and local agencies has provided much needed health care services to more than 100,000 Laredo and Rio Grande Valley residents since 1999. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Suzanne Carter)
LAREDO, Texas –Texas Military Forces with international, state, and local officials, celebrated the successful collaboration among multiple agencies to plan and implement Operation Lone Star 2014 during a ceremony at the medical point of distribution (MPOD) in Laredo, Texas, Aug. 6, 2014.
Brig. Gen. Sean A. Ryan, Texas Army National Guard deputy commander, senior members of the Chilean military and a Chilean emergency response organization, and other officials toured the medical and emergency preparedness exercise site following the ceremony to see the cooperation among the various organizations represented.
"We're directly working with the Department of State Health Services … the state judges that you see, the superintendents, the leadership of a lot of the emergency services that we would be interacting with in the communities," in the event of an emergency or disaster, Ryan said. "[These partnerships have] just gotten better every year."
Chilean military and emergency response representatives visited the Laredo MPOD to gain a greater understanding of interagency collaboration for disaster response as part of a standing partnership between the Texas Military Forces and Chile.
"Operation Lone Star is what we consider a remote type of emergency disaster response scenario," said Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Rodriguez, the bilateral affairs officer who coordinated the Chilean representatives' visit through the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile. "With all the earthquakes and recent wildfires they've had in Chile, a lot of their areas are considered to be remote. So they're just kind of taking some lessons learned and doing some subject-matter exchanges with the personnel at Operation Lone Star who have been doing this for years."
While Operation Lone Star is a valuable training exercise for medical and emergency preparedness, it also provides much needed medical services to underserved residents in Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. These services include vision, hearing, and diabetes screenings, immunizations and physical health assessments. Five MPODs in Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley offered these and additional.