An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | June 11, 2020

SCNG medical technicians support COVID-19 response

By Lt. Col. Jim St. Clair 169th Fighter Wing

MCENTIRE JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, S.C. – Two U.S. Air National Guard Airmen with the South Carolina Air National Guard (SCANG) have been working on the leading edge of South Carolina’s medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jennifer Wagner and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jennifer Heller, 169th Medical Group aerospace medical technicians, have been on active duty orders since early May working across the state to augment local authorities’ medical response to COVID-19.

Wagner, a nurse during the week at the VA Medical Center in Morehead City, North Carolina, first responded to a COVID-19 hotspot at the Allendale Correctional Institution. U.S. Air Force Col. Phillip Latham, SCANG state air surgeon, organized a joint team of Army and Air National Guard medical technicians to assist the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

“We went in as a joint team and looked at what [Allendale] was doing and how they were doing it as far as screening, and then we let them know what needed changing,” Wagner said.

For example, Wagner advised the prison personnel on sanitation protocols, handwashing and cross-contamination hazards.

“Every day, we would go in and screen [inmates]. We did temperature checks, pulses and oxygen levels. Over the course of the mission, we performed over 35,000 screenings,” she added.

While supporting the facility for three weeks, there were no new COVID-19 cases for 18 days.

Wagner said this collaborative model between the National Guard and the Department of Corrections is being replicated this month at the Kirkland and Evans Correctional Institutions.

Wagner is now working with the South Carolina National Guard’s new Medical Strike Team to test people for the coronavirus at hotspots across the state. On June 9, the team tested 500 people at a test site at Great Falls Elementary School.

Heller recently returned from a successful mission helping South Carolina Army National Guard Soldiers deliver meals to people in Horry County and Myrtle Beach.

Heller, who is a nurse at Lexington Medical Center, partnered with U.S. Army Pvt. Noah Nakagawa, South Carolina Army National Guard medic, to provide medical support to Joint Task Force 59.

“The mission was to feed the community. When the school systems shut down, they still needed to provide meals to the children. Our job as medics was to take care of the Army and take their temperature twice a day,” Heller said.

In the three weeks they were there, Heller said the National Guard served 24 communities more than 150,000 meals and put more than 20,000 miles on the buses.

“They did a fantastic job,” she said.

 

 

Related Articles
2nd Lt. Kyle Funk, military police officer, 323rd Military Police Company, conducts fast rope insertion and extraction system training out of a CH-53K King Stallion helicopter during Exercise Northern Strike at Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, Alpena, Mich., Aug. 5, 2024. Fast-roping is a technique for descending a thick rope, allowing troops to deploy from a helicopter in places where the aircraft cannot touch down.
COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Reinstatement
By National Guard Bureau | Feb. 24, 2025
ARLINGTON, Va. - Former Army National Guard Soldiers: You can continue your service in the Army National Guard.If you are a Soldier who separated solely due to refusing the COVID-19 vaccine requirement and currently meet all...

New York Army National Guard Pvt. Joshua Morales, a member of the 133rd Combat Support Company, directs a COVID-19 vaccination registrant to The State University of New York, Stony Brook, vaccination site March 16th, 2021.
NY National Guard Wraps up Federally Funded COVID-19 Mission
By Eric Durr, | July 1, 2022
LATHAM, N.Y. - More than 840 days after the first Soldiers and Airmen went on duty to stem an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in New Rochelle, the New York National Guard’s federally supported COVID-19 mission came to an end...

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Nardo, 158th Fighter Wing, Vermont Air National Guard, injects James Bordeaux with a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at Camp Johnson, Vermont, March 18, 2021.
Vermont National Guard Concludes COVID-19 Missions
By Capt. Mikel Arcovitch, | June 30, 2022
COLCHESTER, Vt. – Vermont National Guard Soldiers and Airmen supporting Vermont’s COVID-19 response mission officially end orders July 1.The first mission began March 23, 2020, when Soldiers established a medical surge...