Heart of the Med Group

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Donald Hudson
  • 374th Airlift Wing

 

As days go by and Yokota’s hospital sees patients coming in and out for everything from physical therapy and optometry appointments to oral surgeries and urgent care emergencies, members of Team Yokota receive the care they need to remain healthy. 

The ability to provide top-notch treatment and healthcare is the primary focus of the 374th Medical Group. Along with the high-tech equipment needed each day to fulfill the mission and meet the needs of Team Yokota, there is also a need for men and women who can ensure the equipment is functioning properly. 

Behind the scenes, away from the hustle-and-bustle of the hospital, is the 374 MDG’s Medical Equipment Repair Center, whose duty is to ensure all hospital equipment is maintained to provide medical staff with reliable tools they need to provide proper healthcare to base residents.

“We conduct ‘cradle-to-grave’ handling of every piece of equipment,” said Master Sgt. Ramon Vincent Memita, 374 MDG MERC section chief. “We install and calibrate new equipment, maintain it throughout its lifetime in the Air Force and determine when it needs to be replaced.”

The MERC inventories, installs, inspects, repairs, and calibrates necessary equipment from dental chairs and vital monitors to critical machinery such as X-Ray and surgical equipment. They regularly perform preventative maintenance year round and are on call to fix equipment if something should ever malfunction.

“We need to have a working knowledge of every piece of equipment in the Med Group,” said Staff Sgt. Walter Jones, 374 MDG MERC biomedical equipment technician. “Learning the details of each piece of equipment is challenging; each is different and each facility has a different setup. Technology is constantly improving and changing; this makes our job challenging but it is also rewarding being able to learn the details of new tech and having the ability to fix anything the medical staff brings us.”

The MERC technicians are essential, without them, doctors and medical staff would not have the modern tools and equipment they need to conduct patient care to their full abilities.

Teaching the medical staff on how to properly use the equipment is also a responsibility of the MERC technicians.

Their efforts prevent safety hazards, as well as help provide timely and accurate patient healthcare, saving the Air Force time, money and the lives of patients.

“Knowing you worked on something that directly impacts people’s lives is rewarding,” said Memita. “The equipment we work on could end up being used on our co-workers, children or anyone, so we don’t put our name and approval on the equipment without knowing it is functioning properly.”

Yokota Air Base is known as the Pacific’s premier power projection platform for multiple reasons, one factor boosting that reputation is Yokota acts as the MERC hub for the Pacific Air Forces.

“We are the PACAF hub for medical equipment repair, calibrations and inspections,” said Staff Sgt. Shane Page, 374 MDG medical equipment repair center NCOIC. “We conduct annual inspections at medical facilities across PACAF including Hawaii, Japan, Korea including U.S. Embassies in the region.”

The MERC technicians at Yokota are responsible for over $63 million dollars of equipment across 10 PACAF sites. They are also caretakers of the Air Force’s largest supply of Patient Movement Items, which are various pieces of medical equipment used during in-flight patient care and transport. They control and maintain 24% of Air Force PMI assets valued over $25 million dollars.

Between taking care of Yokota’s 5,000 pieces of equipment and the rest of PACAF, the shop of just over a dozen Airmen are always busy.

Daily, the MERC flight demonstrates the impact Team Yokota has on PACAF through their professionalism and expertise while playing a pivotal role in the health and welfare in the lives of military members and their families who pass through the Air Force’s largest area of responsibility.