Militaries Provide Care, Build Medical Capabilities During CARAT Malaysia Project
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS060728-05
7/28/2006
By Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Melinda Larson, Destroyer Squadron 1 Public Affairs
SK SEBERANG TAYOR, Malaysia (NNS) -- A festive mood overtook a tiny Malaysian village’s schoolyard as nearly 600 residents streamed in for basic medical and dental treatment when the U.S. Navy and Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) partnered to provide health care here July 25-27.
The combined medical and dental civic action project was part of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT).
While such projects present an opportunity to build relationships with the local communities in which CARAT takes place, there are tangible military benefits, as well.
“The importance of this project cannot be over-emphasized. Exercises like this help us to work together towards a common goal. It establishes a working relationship in case we have to work together during a disaster such as the 2004 tsunami,” said Capt. Mike McNamara, the project coordinator for Commander, Task Force (CTF) 73, the U.S. Navy’s executive agent for the exercise.
McNamara oversaw the multi-faceted, three-day clinic and pharmacy operation. Health care professionals participating included the medical and dental officers from USS Tortuga (LSD 46), a CARAT task group ship, and a doctor and dentist from the MAF. Corpsmen from the MAF, CTF 73, Tortuga, and three other CARAT task group ships, USS Crommelin (FFG 37), USS Hopper (DDG 70), and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Sherman (WHEC 720), also cared for patients.
Gathered around their neighbors, the villagers were curious about the Americans and musicians from the U.S. 7th Fleet Band, who performed on a makeshift stage at the edge of the playground. Many of the school children, pens and paper in hand, gathered around the Sailors and Coast Guardsmen asking for autographs.
“This program is something new for their daily life. This is the first time there’s been something like this. It is interesting for the people here,” said Amzari Abas, a teacher at the Seberang Tayor elementary school.
About 1,000 people live in this village, where rubber trees are planted and harvested. Rosliza Ramli, dressed in blue jeans, a gold floral blouse, and a traditional tudung head scarf, patiently waited her turn in line July 26 outside the schoolroom that served as the makeshift dental clinic. The mother of three had tooth pain. Her four-year old daughter was seen the day before and treated for a skin rash. Ramli has lived in the village all of her 28 years. She and her daughter, Nur, walked one kilometer down a dirt road from their home to the clinic.
“It is good to have this clinic for health, to take care of the health and body of myself and my children,” she said. “I don’t have transportation so it was not easy for me to come here.”
After a visit with the dentist, each patient was given a dental kit containing dental floss, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a commemorative t-shirt.
“Our village people are not from wealth,” noted the school’s headmaster, Alias Bin Yahya Guru Besar. “It is good to give them free services and offer them explanations of caring for their teeth.”
While the healthcare benefits may bring visible results, the intangible effects of the visit may not be seen for many years.
“This is a chance for Americans and Malays to meet each other one on one, so each will not see the other as someone from a distant land but as real people. Hopefully both the Americans and the Malays will have fond memories of this project,” McNamara said.
The bilateral, summer-long CARAT series will continue throughout Southeast Asia with the nations of Brunei and the Philippines. The series has completed phases in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
The CARAT task group is led by Capt. Al Collins, commander Destroyer Squadron 1. Collins is embarked aboard Tortuga which operates from Sasebo, Japan, as part of the 7th Fleet’s Forward Deployed Naval Forces. Collins’ staff is based in San Diego. Hopper, Crommelin and USS Salvor (ARS 52) are homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sherman is homeported in Alameda, Calif.
For more on CARAT, visit www.clwp.navy.mil/carat2006.
For related news, visit the Commander Task Force 73 Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/clwp/.
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