Ohio National Guard News

Innovative training for Ohio's military medical force

Story by Stephanie Beougher, Ohio National Guard Public Affairs
Photos by Sgt. Joanna Bradshaw, Ohio National Guard Public Affairs

Ohio National Guard leadership and medical professionals attend the Operation Hospital SMART (Strategic Medical Asset Readiness Training) kickoff Aug. 14. 2018, in Cincinnati. For the next two weeks, medical personnel from the Ohio National Guard and other services will train with medical professionals from four Cincinnati-area hospitals.

Senior officials from four Cincinnati-area hospitals and military representatives sign a medical training agreement.

Medical professionals from the Ohio National Guard, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army Reserve and civilian hospitals.

CINCINNATI, Ohio (08/14/18) — A new civil-military relationship has begun in Ohio that will provide medical training to military medical personnel, including members of the Ohio National Guard.

Senior officials from four Cincinnati area hospitals, along with representatives from the National Guard, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army Reserve, kicked off the two-week training on August 14, 2018, by signing an agreement to provide Operation Hospital SMART (Strategic Medical Asset Readiness Training). The nine-year agreement will allow Service Members to receive training on cutting edge technology to prevent skill atrophy and advance their individual readiness to deploy.

“You have senior leaders here in this room who are dedicated to this effort as evidence by their attendance today but also by their teams’ deployment of resources, time and creativity to make this partnership work,” Craig Brammer, chief executive officer of The Health Collaborative, said.

Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr., Ohio assistant adjutant general for Army, commented at the ceremony about the need for Soldiers to be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, with little time to polish their skills.

“We appreciate an innovative program like Operation Hospital SMART to help our people maintain their skills in an environment that we cannot replicate in the National Guard,” Harris said.

Spc. Deanna Delaney, a behavioral health specialist with the Ohio Army National Guard Medical Detachment, is one of the Soldiers who will be training alongside her civilian counterparts.

“I’m looking forward to getting on-the-job training,” Delaney said. “I don’t get a lot of training with my specific MOS [military occupational specialty], so being able to be in a real-world setting, to get the extra training so I know what to do in certain situations, is great.”

The program also includes specialties such as radiology, laboratory technology and dental treatment. Training will include accompanying paramedics on ambulance calls, working alongside emergency room personnel and flying on University of Cincinnati’s Air Care.

Operation Hospital SMART started last year in New Jersey and helps to establish a national network of healthcare facilities that will provide critical medical training to our nation’s service members.