June 6, 2011 | Beginning Wednesday, the UAMS Delta Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in Helena-West Helena is expected to be overflowing with people needing medical attention.

Military reservists from across the United States are leading a medical and dental mission in the Arkansas Delta that will run from June 8-18. Called Task Force Razorback, the mission is expected to help about 5,000 Delta families.

The mission was announced at a June 6 news conference in Little Rock by Gov. Mike Beebe, UAMS’ Becky Hall, Ph.D., director of the Delta AHEC; Col. Michele Cianci, commander of Task Force Razorback, and Delta Regional Authority Federal Co-Chairman Chris Masingill.

During the 11-day mission, nearly 300 medical professionals from the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve and Air Force Reserve will be in the Delta communities of Eudora, Helena-West Helena, Marianna, McGehee and Wynne.

As part of the mission, any resident is eligible for services that include testing for diabetes, high-blood pressure, eye exams and general dentistry. Patients will be referred to doctors in their area for any follow-up care that is needed.

“It is a mission of mercy,” Beebe said. “This is the sort of thing that we have to do even more of because there are certain people who are left behind.”

The Delta region, which includes portions of east and southeast Arkansas, has consistently poor health outcomes. Compared with national rates, deaths in the Delta region from circulatory diseases are 21.2 percent higher, deaths from cancer are 12.7 percent higher and deaths from accidents are 42 percent higher.

Hall has been instrumental in organizing the event since Masingill contacted her about it a year ago. Hall worked with officials in Eudora, Helena-West Helena, Marianna, McGehee and Wynne to ensure that medical treatments would be offered in those communities.

“You have a real treasure in Becky Hall,” Masingill told Monday’s gathering.

“The AHEC has been an absolutely amazing investment by the state of Arkansas,” Beebe said. “I agree with you that we have a treasure in Dr. Hall.”

Hall said she and the Delta AHEC staff are inspired by the many phone calls they receive from people who lack access to health care. Among the examples she gave are people who need glasses, who use pliers to pull their own teeth or who are unable to afford drugs they need to manage chronic illnesses.

“Our health care system has been described as a patchwork quilt,” Hall said. “In the Delta, ours is tattered and torn and full of holes. We have the highest death rates in the nation from cancer, hypertension, diabetes, suicide and other chronic illnesses.”

The medical mission is part of the Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training program. The reservists will work closely with civilian health clinics in the communities they are serving.

“We owe a huge thank you to the Delta Regional Authority, and to the Army, Navy and Air Force reserves for allowing us to participate in this mission,” Hall said. “What a great way to start to mend our tattered and torn patchwork quilt.”