WEBVTT

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(upbeat music)

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- Lieutenant Colonel Roderick Fontenette

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from Travis Air Force Base.

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So I'm trained in emergency
medicine and critical care.

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So therefore I can work down
in the emergency department

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as well as in the ICU,

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intensive care unit.

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And that's why I am right now.

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So I'm assisting up here
in the intensive care unit.

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The air force has sent a
team here to assist treatment

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of patients with COVID that
had been diagnosed with COVID,

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or that are higher likely of having COVID.

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So some degree of respiratory illness.

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So we're here basically
to help kind of augment

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the teams here learn the local community.

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Well the biggest challenge for us

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when we hit the ground
last week was just kind

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of getting used to a brand new system,

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something somewhere that
we had never worked before,

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working alongside with
the healthcare team,

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that we've never worked with before.

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So we just kind of getting
integrated within their system

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and just learning the
way they do things here.

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So basically just learning the culture,

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of the system here in Fresno.

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It's an amazing feeling

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to be helping out here at home, right?

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So I've been deployed three times now,

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Afghanistan, Kuwait then Turkey.

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I've also been deployed

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to the horn of Africa So in East Africa,

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but it's nothing like
helping out here at home,

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on the home front.

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So when, when people see us in uniform

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and they all say thank
you for your service,

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usually that service
means like downrange in

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a deployed location, right?

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So, it takes on a completely
different meaning when it says,

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thank you for your service
here at home as well.

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So the American people
know that, you know,

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in a moment's notice, not only will,

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will put on my uniform to go overseas,

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to do what my job is,

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but I would also put on
that same uniform with

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the same commitment,

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the same drive to do what's
necessary here at home.

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So it feels good to be home helping out.

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And usually when we think of deployments,

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you don't think it's gonna
be three and a half hours

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from home, right?

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So usually I don't jump
in my car to drive,

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to a deployment, right?

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Use that on, get off of
work in a deployment,

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and go stay at my hotel, right?

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So usually when I'm deployed,

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I'm somewhere far away from home,

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but here, like literally it
was three and a half hours

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from home and here I am in
my deployed location, right?

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So it's a bit different,

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and the enemy is a bit different, right?

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It's an enemy that I can't see, right?

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It doesn't mean that
it's not as important,

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I think it's just as
important because now it's,

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directly affecting American
and Americans lives.

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So my team and I, we're more than happy

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to step up and we're glad to be here.

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I honestly think it's been
a seamless transition.

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They've welcomed us here
with wide open arms.

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And it's almost like
we've been working here,

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I mean, it's an amazing place to work.

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The staff here has been
absolutely amazing.

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Especially once they find
out that we are part of

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the military here, helping out,

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it's constantly thanking
us for being here.

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And it's just been absolutely amazing.

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So it has been a seamless
transition from day one.

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I think what they've done
tremendously well is,

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basically putting us in areas

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to all you would be successful, right?

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So I'm emergency medicine critical care.

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So they had me up here in the ICU.

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We have folks that are
emergency medicine nurses,

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they put them in emergency.

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Same thing for med surge nurses,

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same things for with
technicians that are here,

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same thing for our respiratory
therapists that are here.

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They put us in areas where
we could be of most benefit.

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Again, it doesn't really matter
if it's an overseas threat,

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someone that is directly
trying to negatively impact us,

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or it's a disease or a virus,

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that's spreading rampant
throughout the United States.

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When the American people need us,

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they can always rest assured,

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that their military will step up

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to do what's necessary.

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Again whether that's on foreign soil,

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or right here in our home front,

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we're always ready.