Category: Military

Source: United States Navy (Logistics Group Western Pacific)

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga — During their stop in the Kingdom of Tonga, the Pacific Partnership 2025 (PP-25) medical team, consisting of U.S. Navy, Army, Public Health Service and Tongan Ministry of Health personnel, conducted over 30 community health engagements in the fields of One Health, cardiology, critical care medicine, endocrinology, optometry, clinical pharmacy, veterinary medicine, public health, nursing, prenatal care and nutrition between June 18 and June 28, 2025.

The PP-25 medical team also featured several professors, students, and alumni from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS), located in Bethesda, Maryland, who worked together to engage in multiple health engagements and training workshops as part of the PP-25 mission.

USUHS Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) Professor and Alumni U.S. Navy Cmdr. Samantha Jennings, stationed at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Bremerton, utilized her skills as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) to support the PP-25 Tonga mission stop to train and assist local health care workers at Vaiola Hospital and Mu’a Health Centre in delivering health consultations to numerous patients from across the island. Jennings also served as faculty supervisor to Army Maj. Tiffany Wilson, a dual track nursing student.

While deployed in support of the PP-25 Tonga mission as a dual track USUHS FNP/WHNP student, Wilson worked as part of a team with U.S. Navy Cmdr. Cheryl Castro, midwife with PP-25, and Hospitalman Nicole Abreu, to deliver prenatal health care to local patients at the Vaiola Hospital and alongside Jennings at Mu’a Health Centre to issue several health consultations to local patients with diverse needs. While garnering experience in delivering health care to patients in resource limited environments, Wilson’s efforts also alleviated the operational strain of sourcing a FNP at the Military Treatment Facility level.

Additionally, Lt. Cmdr. Sean Foley, USUHS School of Medicine assistant professor applied his knowledge and teaching expertise as a deployed critical care physician with PP-25, to assist and guide multiple Tongan registrar physicians at Vaiola Hospital on medical procedures. Foley worked closely with Dr. Richard Taumoepeau, a Tongan physician, in performing ultrasound-guided thoracenteses, a procedure designed to remove fluid buildup in the lungs to restore their normal function, on six local patients.

Lt. William Douthitt, a USUHS dual master’s degree holder in School of Medicine and Public Health, applied his expertise and skills as a preventive medicine physician to lead a multidisciplinary foodborne illness tabletop exercise at Vaiola Hospital. Douthitt’s tabletop exercise trained eight local health care officials in strengthening and building upon current public health & communicable disease infrastructure to better respond to disease outbreaks.

USUHS alumnus, Lt. Louis Pingotti, Doctor of Nursing Practice, medical lead for the PP-25 Tonga mission, oversaw the planning and execution of all medical operations. It was through Pingotti’s consolidated efforts that his fellow USUHS alumni and peers were able to administer a successful conclusion to the PP-25 Tonga mission stop.

Now in its 21st iteration, the Pacific Partnership series is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster management preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. Pacific Partnership works collaboratively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security and stability in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in the Indo-Pacific.

Source: United States Navy (Logistics Group Western Pacific)

Source: United States Navy (Logistics Group Western Pacific)

Source: United States Navy (Logistics Group Western Pacific)