TACLOBAN, Philippines — Navy Lt. Lauren Moses, a physician’s assistant from Port Townsend, and two hospital corpsmen finally reached the health director in the central Philippines city of Guiuan last Sunday.
They motored and trudged past unbelievable wreckage from Typhoon Haiyan after landing in a helicopter from the aircraft carrier to which they’re assigned.
Their mission: a daylong assessment of medical needs of survivors in the Samar island city, population 47,000, in the wake of the Nov. 8 superstorm.
The three Americans who finally met up with health director Dr. Maria Flores had come from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, a giant nuclear mother ship that is leading America’s relief effort to the Philippines.
At least 5,000 people were killed or left missing by the Nov. 8 hurricane, and an estimated 360,000 were displaced. The final death toll could exceed 10,000, according to both the Philippines government and relief workers from around the world.
After being flown from the Washington to an airbase near Guiuan, Moses and her corpsmen team concentrated on reaching Flores with supplies and assessing Guiuan’s health care needs for future aid.
From her, they got the locations of other local health centers.
“We were assigned to go to other places to assess casualties and injured numbers around the area,” Moses said in an interview.
Moses and her team, with map in hand, hiked to Municipal Hall to take record of the casualties and speak with volunteers about medical needs.
They also gathered information about nongovernmental health locations in the area.
And then they went out past more devastation.
The medical team, accompanied by Filipino nurses, went to the Immaculate Conception School in a barangay, or impoverished suburb, where they were able to treat more than 85 injured civilians in an evacuation shelter.
“There are currently no other government or nongovernmental organization medical aid to these shelters,” said one of the hospital corpsmen, Petty Officer 3rd Class Quinton Dotson of Reno, Nev.
“I thank God for the opportunity to be here, and I just want to help as much as I can.”
Then on foot and by vehicle, the medical team returned to the airfield after their assessment trip.
As they awaited their helicopter back to the Washington, they helped unload relief supplies from an HC-130 Hercules helicopter from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
And their Sunday came to an end with a return to the aircraft carrier.
On the islands of Leyte and Samar that were shattered by Haiyan, there is no doubt about it: The U.S. military has been a godsend.
“It is awesome to see this,” says one grateful villager. “They are saving us.”
“Crisis response planning is a skill set for the military, so when you have an opportunity to execute crisis response, it’s good for your planning team,” said Rear Adm. Mark C. Montgomery, who commands the George Washington strike group now in the Gulf of Leyte.
“So, sure, there is a benefit there. But in reality, the reason we do this mission is because in the Navy’s list of missions, this is one of the significant efforts we plan for.”
More than 600 U.S. military personnel are currently ashore in the Philippines.
The George Washington strike group adds an additional 6,200 sailors supporting air operations, and 1,000 Marines and sailors with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit were expected to arrive this week.
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Associated Press writer Eric Talmadge, on the USS George Washington, and Navy Mass Communications Specialist Seaman Beverly Lesonik, with Lt. Moses’ medical team, contributed to this report.
