IRT Wellness Mission 2023 officers met with the press at the Office of the Governor on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. From left, Lt. Cmdr. Shaun Shillady, Col. George Koklanaris and Maj. Dan Lavargna.
MAJOR Dan Lavargna, the U.S. Army’s program manager for the Innovative Readiness Training program, said CNMI residents were able to receive close to $3 million in medical and ancillary services as part of the IRT Wellness Mission 2023.
“We’re estimating that based upon Medicare reimbursement rates, the fair market value [of services] is between $1.3 million and $1.6 million,” Lavargna said. “However, that’s not the best estimate. A more accurate and genuine estimate of the actual cost of these services would be based on the civilian sector commercial costs, and in that case, it’s looking more upwards of the range of…maybe $2.9 million.”
Lavargna met with the local media at the governor’s office on Wednesday, July 19. With him were Col. George Koklanaris, deputy director of the IRT in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Lt. Cmdr. Shaun Shillady, the Navy’s IRT program manager.
The U.S. military’s wellness mission delivered no-cost medical, dental, behavioral health, optometry, and veterinarian services to residents of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota from July 12 to 19.
Lavargna, Koklanaris, and Shillady also shared information about potential future wellness missions in the CNMI.
Koklanaris said a mission begins when a community partner, such as the Office of the Governor of the CNMI, submits a mission request online.
The IRT’s official website lists five potential types of missions: medical, civil engineering, cybersecurity, transportation, and aerial spray.
Koklanaris said the submissions must demonstrate “military value.”
“Our program, by law, has to provide military training first and foremost,” he said.
He added that when a potential mission demonstrates military value, the application is then handed over to program managers who will find military units that match the training opportunity called for in the mission, and then the mission can begin.
Shillady said on Tinian there is a separate civil engineering project to repave roads in Marpo Heights.
“It’s really up to the community to let us know what projects they’re looking for,” Shillady said. “We work with them and help them create those applications that will ultimately lead to projects.”
As for future medical missions in the CNMI, Lavargna said: “If we find that we didn’t have adequate personnel for a particular area — in this case dental — then we will work to ensure that we get more dentists on the deployment manning document.”
He added, “As long as…we can get those [dental and medical personnel], and they’re available, we’ll get them on the mission.”
Dental services were in high demand during the wellness mission. Data from a July 16 presentation of Col. Hugh West, the wellness mission’s commander, showed that across Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, dental services comprised the largest cost of services.
Koklanaris said Lt. Gov. David Apatang has made a request for expanded mental and behavioral health services in future IRT missions.
By filling out the mission’s evaluation survey, available at bit.ly/3XJAW2E, patients can submit services they think should be offered in future missions.
