- LAMAT Medical Assistance Mission in St. Vincent Concludes
Under the direction of U.S. Southern Command, the 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) successfully pioneered its first Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team mission to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on March 4–12.
Throughout the 10-day mission, the team treated over 500 patients, providing services that amounted to approximately $800,000 in free medical care. LAMAT members also disseminated needed medical supplies amounting to $186,000 to local healthcare facilities.
“Words are not enough to express gratitude to you for the resources you have brought with you and which will remain with us in our healthcare system,” said Cuthbert Knights, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Health, Wellness, and the Environment.
“We are a very resilient country, with a very resilient population, but that resilience requires that we acknowledge that we can’t do this alone,” said Dr. Simone Keizer Beache, chief medical officer of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “The Ministry of Health’s motto is, ‘Your health is a shared responsibility,’ and this is how we work.”
LAMAT not only seeks to strengthen cooperation between the U.S. and its partner nations, but it also capitalises upon the unique local environment, serving as a readiness mission to better prepare Air Force personnel for deployments to austere environments.
“You taught us how to be inventive, resourceful, creative, and better problem solvers,” said Arcilla during the mission’s closing ceremony. “Thanks to what our counterparts in St. Vincent have taught us, we have become better doctors, nurses, medics, technicians, dentists, logisticians, and administrators.”
Notably, the LAMAT orthopaedic team performed St. Vincent’s first-ever knee arthroscopy surgery. The procedure is used for diagnosing and treating joint problems by inserting a small camera that allows a surgeon to see inside the joint without making a large incision.
“This mission is not just a testament to our shared commitment to health and wellbeing, but also to the enduring partnership between the United States and St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” stated U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Jamie Collins,a senior U.S. Embassy in Barbados senior defence official. “Let us look forward to a future filled with promise and possibility, where the bonds between our countries grow ever stronger.”
The LAMAT 2024 mission has impacted over 2,200 patients across three locations, including Suriname, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, with additional medical teams set to support St. Kitts and Nevis this coming week and progressing until the end of March.
