Dental commander deploys with mercy

  • Published
  • By Radean Brown
  • 56th FW Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Colonel Jeffrey Swartz, 56th Dental Squadron commander, appears relaxed and comfortable in his familiar surroundings at the Luke dental clinic.

Just a few short weeks ago, however, his environment was much different.

Col. Swartz recently returned from an Air Expeditionary Force deployment in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia and East Timor. During this cycle, he served 110 days on a humanitarian mission aboard the U.S. Navy hospital ship, USNS Mercy. The crew, including U.S. military medical personnel, nongovernmental organization representatives, host nation and civilian members, delivered health care and civic assistance to underprivileged people in these regions.

"Basically, I joined the Navy for almost four months," he said. "There were 41 Air Force personnel from different bases who were deployed in support of this mission."

As the senior Air Force officer, and only representative from Luke, Colonel Swartz worked with Air Force mission requirements and personnel issues aboard the ship, as well as performing his primary duty as a comprehensive general dentist.

Because their goal was to treat as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, Colonel Swartz and his coworkers primarily performed tooth extractions. Often times patients would meet their
caregivers in remote villages, under shoreside tents, in makeshift clinics or other facilities that often challenged the doctors' efforts.

When reflecting about his experiences Colonel Swartz said, that, of course, being on a Navy ship was very different. Adapting to Navy traditions and way of life was also unique.

"To get to the shore every day, you either had to take a small boat or helicopter, so there were some real fun experiences with that," he said. "Sometimes the waters were smooth, and sometimes they weren't. The Mercy is huge -- it's almost as big as an aircraft carrier, so you don't really feel the motion much, but when you get out on a smaller boat, things really start bouncing around."

Col. Swartz also has vivid memories of the work and the people he saw during his assignment. In addition to feeling good about the work he was doing, he said he was also enlightened by the "magic" the optometrists did.

"We'd see people whose quality of life improved so drastically," he said. "Some people who couldn't see well or had eyesight problems had a whole new world open up to them. It was amazing to see how a new pair of glasses, or something that might just cost us $3 at the drug store, made such a difference."

There's also the 16-year old Filipino girl who stands out in his mind.

"I had to remove four of her front teeth," he said. "And then it hit me. This girl is about the same age as my daughter, Jessica. I couldn't help but think how much different this girl's life would probably be if she lived here, and how lucky we really are.

"This is the fourth time I've done this in my career," Col. Swartz said. "It's rewarding doing these missions, and helping people. There's no medical care, or very little available at many of the places we go, so the people are very appreciative of what we do. Some places do have dental care. It's very cheap by our standards, but to the local people it's a big expense, so, if we can do this work, it's a big boost for many of them."