Outpatient clerks vital to AF’s medical mission

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Staff Sgt. Jesus Olivares, 5th Medical Support Squadron outpatient records noncommissioned officer-in-charge, looks over Airman 1st Class Heather Griffin’s, 5th MDSS outpatient clerk, work organizing a patient’s records here recently. Outpatient clerk is one of the functions performed by health-service managers. Health-service managers maintain everything from patient records to medically preparing Airmen for upcoming deployments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Benjamin Stratton)

Outpatient clerks vital to AF’s medical mission

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Mashawn Bennett, 5th Medical Support Squadron outpatient clerk, looks over records with Airman 1st Class Brittany Farmer, 5th Medical Operations Squadron medical technician, here recently. Outpatient clerk is one of the functions performed by health-service managers. Health-service managers maintain everything from patient records to medically preparing Airmen for upcoming deployments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Benjamin Stratton)

Outpatient clerks vital to AF’s medical mission

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Airman 1st Class Heather Griffin, 5th Medical Support Squadron outpatient clerk, gives a patient their records in a security bag here recently. Outpatient clerk is one of the functions performed by health-service managers. Health-service managers maintain everything from patient records to medically preparing Airmen for upcoming deployments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Benjamin Stratton)

Outpatient clerks vital to AF’s medical mission

Published Oct. 30, 2008
By Airman 1st Class Benjamin Stratton
Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- When you walk into the 5th Medical Group to pick up your records for a deployment or to out-process, have you ever stopped to think who maintains them? There is a group of individuals from the 5th Medical Support Squadron that keep records up-to-date. They are the health-service managers and outpatient clerks, and they are an important part of the base's medical community.

"We help patients when they come here with their records," said Mashawn Bennett, 5th MDSS outpatient clerk. "We also help them get the assistance they need downtown [Trinity Health Care]."

Health-service managers do everything from maintaining patient records to medically preparing Airmen for deployments. Whether an Airman is just arriving to the base or leaving for a new location, the outpatient clerks and health service managers are the ones to go to for assistance.

Minot AFB's outpatient clerks take pride in the work they do for the Minot AFB community as well as their impact on the mission here.

"If we don't do our job, the doctors and nurses don't get the records they need to correctly diagnose a patient," said Airman 1st Class Heather Griffin, 5th MDSS outpatient clerk. "We are pretty much considered patient administrators."

While taking care of patients records and medically preparing them for deployment is an everyday focus, completing these tasks isn't the only way they know they have done their job.

"We know our job is complete when the patients are satisfied and leave with a smile," said Staff Sgt. Jesus Olivares, 5th MDSS outpatient records noncommissioned officer-in-charge. "We get a sense of fulfillment when our patients leave here happy."