NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria (Army News Service, Oct. 16, 2008) - In their last two humanitarian missions in Bulgaria, the 212th Combat Support Hospital extended their efforts beyond the clinic.

"We wanted to make the most of what time we had left here," said Maj. Tameka Bowser, officer in charge of the medical team. Joint Task Force-East had been training in Bulgaria since early September.

Along with medical services, in the last two weeks the team offered dental hygiene classes to Padarevo students and cleaned up Mokren's local school playground., where troops also handed out school supplies.

The 212th's main mission here is to work in conjunction with Bulgarian personnel, providing counsel and developing a working relationship with Bulgarian medical providers, Bowser said.

Since the capacity of the 212th's mission only goes as far as counsel, their time was available to be donated in other ways.

Lt. Caleb Lakey, the unit's lead preventive medicine specialist, took on the Mokren schoolyard as a project the team would tie into its preventive medicine classes to the students. The dental team also handed out basic hygiene kits at both schools.

Between the two towns, the Bulgarian medical professionals working alongside the 212th saw about 150 patients, and the 212th handed out nearly that many prescription glasses.