New Horizons Airman provides medical care in Guyana

Airman provides medical care in Guyana
during humanitarian exercise New Horizons

By Dona Fair

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Not many people in this remote South American country get a reception like the daughter of an Azle woman. People paddle miles upriver, hike through overgrown jungle trails and pile into cramped, overcrowded buses to get to her.

The “her” is Air Force Tech. Sgt. Pamela D. Reed, daughter of Etta Lem of Long Avenue, Azle, who recently spent time in Guyana as part of a nation-building and humanitarian exercise called “New Horizons.”  She and more than 200 service members provided such things as medical and dental care, built schools and other community facilities to aid the people of the poverty-stricken nation.

Reed is a medical service specialist during the exercise.  “I provide medical services by helping in triage, where I take vital signs, and anything else I can do to help within the scope of my experience,” explained Reed, a 1990 graduate of Azle High School.

Celebrating 25 years of providing aid to underserved areas throughout Central and South America, “New Horizons” also gives service members a type of experience they would never receive back at their normal duty station.  This year, the focus has been on building a new medical clinic in La Pentinence, a new schoolhouse in Bel Air, the renovation of another school in Timehri and eight medical readiness exercises throughout the region.

“The amount of people needing care here is beyond belief,” said Reed.  “I am learning how to handle the large volume of patients in a very short period of time – sometimes up to 600 patients a day!  I’m also learning a lot by working with patients from another country who speak a different language.  We really have to slow down and listen to them.”

Amid the poverty, sickness and structural decay of the region lies one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Dense forests, with some of the most exotic plant and animal life, along with some of the most spectacular water falls anywhere make Guyana a place where time seems to stand still.

“Guyana is beautiful, but it appears to be a very poverty-stricken country,” said Reed.  “The people are very friendly and grateful for all of our help.  Compared to the standard of living we’re used to in the U.S., this place is dirty and has a lot of disease.  One elderly woman took my hand and kissed my cheek with extreme gratitude.  It made me feel so lucky to be an American.”

While Reed may not be asked for autographs, be followed by paparazzi or noticed on a busy street, for hundreds of locals in the desolate jungles of Guyana, the help she and her fellow service members provided will be remembered for life.