Innovative Readiness Training program manager Maj. Daniel LaVorgna, second right, and Special Assistant for Military Affairs Daniel Aquino, center, pose for a photo with Guam Air National Guard SMSgt Joseph Leon Guerrero, left, mission planner Maj. Kelvin Cater, second left, and Air National Guard 176th Medical Group Major Jennifer Ward, right, following a press briefing on Thursday at the CNMI Bureau of Military Affairs Office on Capital Hill.
THE Innovative Readiness Training team is back in the CNMI to conduct another Operation Wellness.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the IRT program is implemented by various military branches in collaboration with the CNMI Bureau of Military Affairs.
IRT’s program manager, Maj. Daniel LaVorgna of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, said their new mission will have an expanded duration.
Consisting of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Army Reserve, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Air National Guard as well as the U.S. Navy, the IRT team provides medical services, health screening, dental care, behavioral health counseling and screening, optometry with eyeglass fabrication, and veterinary care to members of the community on Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
Last year, they were here for two weeks. They conducted a mission on Saipan from July 12 to 20, and on Tinian and Rota from July 12 to 19.
This year, LaVorgna said their mission will start on June 8 and will continue through June 18. They will take a day off, then another team will arrive to provide services from June 20 to June 28.
He said the IRT mission is a training opportunity for participating servicemembers. They are bringing in approximately 150 servicemembers for each team, he added.
LaVorgna said last year, they provided services to over 3,000 patients.
The IRT mission is not necessarily an annual activity, he added. He said they came back because when they were here last year they saw the need for services.
He also noted the active involvement of the CNMI Bureau of Military Affairs and the strong working relationship with the local community.
IRT’s mission planner, Maj. Kelvin Carter, said he was excited to be back on island and provide services to the community.
The team members “will operate on all the three islands,” he added. “On Saipan they will be staging at Saipan Southern High School, and on Tinian and Rota at their high school campuses.”
Carter added, “We are looking forward to this great opportunity, looking forward to not just provide these services, but connecting with the community, making this not just better but a lasting memory for the community — that they understand the capabilities that we have provided and where we’re heading, going forward in the future.”
For his part, Special Assistant for Military Affairs Daniel Aquino thanked the IRT team whose members came “from great distances – as far as Alaska.” He also thanked Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang for their full support for the “no-cost mission” for the people of the CNMI.
He said the IRT mission will help ensure “that our community is healthy because a healthy community leads to a healthy economy.”
