Utah National Guard’s State Partnership Program brings healthcare to underserved Moroccan people

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AKKA, Morocco – The State Headquarters Medical Readiness Detachment (MRD), Utah National Guard (UTNG), based in Bluffdale, Utah and Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) worked together to provide medical services to residents in Akka, Morocco, and the surrounding area, during African Lion 2024 (AL24).

These services fall under the umbrella of humanitarian civic assistance (HCA) operations, in which the U.S. military conducts activities in one of four categories to promote the security interests of the U.S. and the participating nation while improving the operational readiness of participating service members.

“The HCA is an event that we’ve put on for the last 20 years,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Evans, officer-in-charge of the MRD. “We go to remote areas with limited access to medical care and, in conjunction with our Moroccan counterparts, build a hospital out of nothing. The hospital is quite advanced given the conditions.”

HCA events occur throughout the year, but this iteration coincided with the largest military exercise in Africa.

AL24 is U.S. Africa Command’s premier joint exercise, led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), running from April 19 to May 31 across Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, featuring over 8,100 participants from 27 nations and NATO contingents.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the exercise series and the Utah National Guard’s state partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco. The National Guard began its State Partnership Program in 1993 and has grown to include 92 partnerships with 106 nations.

Utah’s initial partnership was with the Republic of Belarus; however, that agreement came to an end in 2003. Beginning the same year, Utah transitioned to its current relationship with Morocco, bringing forth the first of many HCA programs.

With the help of FAR medical soldiers and Moroccan civilian medical professionals, Utah’s MRD provides services such as cardiology, dental surgery, lab work, X-ray services and more to hundreds of Moroccan people. Translators are assigned one or two service providers to help relay the needs of the patients and suggestions from the Moroccan specialist to the Soldiers handling their care.

“Everyone comes out a winner in this,” Evans said. “For the Moroccan people with limited healthcare, they have all of their medical concerns addressed in a timely manner. And for the military - both from Morocco and the U.S. - this is a chance to actually exercise what we do when conducting combat missions or humanitarian support elsewhere in the world.”

Keeping the field hospital running also comes with its fair share of challenges.

U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Robert Stevens, the senior enlisted advisor to Evans, said that Akka’s climate—where temperatures can reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit on some days—forced them to adjust their pharmaceutical operations. Morocco primarily runs the pharmacy operations with resupply support from the UTNG. To gain some much needed relief from the heat, the facility offers a daycare area where U.S. and Moroccan soldiers entertain children while cooling down.

“We had to relocate the pharmacy because of temperature control,” Stevens said. “We didn’t have the full capability to provide that for some of the medicine because if they go above or below a certain temperature, the meds are no good. They send the supply request to us and our staff, [then] we send a group out to go pick up the pharmacy supplies and bring them back here.”

Although the current HCA operations are temporary, there is a lasting impact on the MRD soldiers and the FAR. The MRD has provided over 70,000 services to the Moroccan people as of May 28, which puts them well on track to their goal of 91,000 medical treatments completed, according to Stevens.

Evans also noted that years of operating the field hospital helped the FAR establish expeditionary medical forces in Jordan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For a soldier like U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Nelson, the MRD’s clinical manager of the HCA exercise and a paramedic back in the U.S., the benefits of working on this mission are twofold.

“I’ve had the opportunity to learn from the emergency doctors here with the Moroccan military and other doctors how to treat patients in an austere environment,” Nelson said. “That knowledge is critical and crucial to my ability to be a better medic and treat more patients in the U.S.”

Utah splits its yearly obligation to the HCA mission between its Army and Air National Guard, meaning the latter will take charge during African Lion 2025.

Improving partnerships and operational effectiveness through multinational collaboration is one of the primary tenets of the exercise and the Utah National Guard remains committed to doing its part to meet that objective.

About SETAF-AF

SETAF-AF provides U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa a dedicated headquarters to synchronize Army activities in Africa and scalable crisis-response options in Africa and Europe.

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