NORWICH – While most of our schools are busy hosting summer instruction or simply shut down for the mid-year recess, a spin down Midland drive around Norwich High School in the City of Norwich looks like something out of an episode of MASH.

For the second year in a row, the Chenango United Way in concert with the U.S. Department of Defense has brought the Greater Chenango Cares Innovative Readiness Training into the heart of Chenango County.

Greater Chenango Cares is a 10-day health outreach initiative that offers no cost medical, dental, optometry and veterinary care for children and adults across the region at no expense to patients. With medical and veterinarian staff recruited from all over the U.S., the mobile heath clinic is an example of the U.S. military’s speedy deployment of reservists.

As early as last week, trucks loaded with cargo and freight containers, generators and medical supplies began rolling onto the Norwich high school campus.

But while many will marvel at the portability and technology of what is in reality a collaborative training exercise for all branches of the military, another army of local volunteers in the hundreds have dedicated thousands of combined man-hours to make the event possible.

Since early 2014, Chenango United Way Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco and her right hand Victoria Mitchell have overseen the management of the civilian-side of the training exercise, including the recruitment of over a thousand volunteer posts to cover dedicated positions and to help assist with paperwork, parking, greeting and guiding patients around the confusing maze of hallways.

“From the moment we first learned that we might be eligible as a community to participate in the program, we knew that this would have a tremendous impact on the community,” said Monaco. “ The first year was an absolute success, we were very fortunate to be chosen as a host site for a second year in a row based on the need of our communities.”