Making the Rounds: Medical Student Pulls Double Duty as Nevada Air National Guard Lieutenant

Making the Rounds

May 5th, 2020 Issue 241

Since March 23rd, more than 6,500 Nevadans have been tested for COVID-19 at UNLV Medicine's curbside test operation. For a same day or next business day appointment, text "covid" to (702) 744-9722. There is no out of pocket cost to patients.

Friends and Colleagues,

During her K-12 years, Caleena Longworth wore hand me downs from other families. Her mother made her change into black and white clothing after school so she wouldn’t be mistaken for wearing the colors of a gang. Food stamps put food on her plate. At night, she slept in her grandpa’s small RV. Overcoming the crushing effects of poverty are at the heart of the American Dream. It’s what Caleena, a third year medical school student at the UNLV School of Medicine is doing. Not only did she graduate college and get accepted to medical school, but Caleena is also an officer in the Nevada Air National Guard. Caleena has been in charge of the Guard’s presence at the UNLV Medicine curbside testing program for COVID-19, the leading testing center in the state. In today’s newsletter, we feature Caleena, who’s determined to make the world a better place.

Marc J. Kahn, M.D.

Dean, UNLV School of Medicine

Coronavirus Crisis

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The UNLV Foundation has set up a site for those wanting to support the relief efforts, including an emergency fund for School of Medicine students (Nancy Atkinson Perkins Memorial Fund) and a UNLV Medicine Fund for Patient Care to help cover medical expenses for patients who are uninsured or underinsured.

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Medical Student Pulls Double Duty at Curbside Testing She's Also a Lieutenant in Nevada Air National Guard

Caleena Longworth has shed the white coat that medical students typically wear, and is now wearing military fatigues while assisting at curbside testing.

It was early April and Caleena Longworth was involved in what other third year UNLV School of Medicine students were doing, studying for important standardized exams -- one on neurology, another on internal medicine and the third, a nine hour board exam dealing with all subjects that had been covered.

And then came the April 9th phone call from Col. Martin Bain, the State Air Surgeon of the Nevada Air National Guard.

“Col. Bain asked if I would be interested in taking a position as Officer in Charge of a COVID-19 Community Based Collection Center,” said Longworth, who serves as a first lieutenant in the Guard. “The first thing I said was, ‘Yes, I want to, but let me call my Student Affairs Dean and make sure I can do this with my school obligations.’ I called Dr. (Sam) Parrish who was very supportive of me taking the position. I called back right away and accepted the job.”

It’s now just about a month later. Her exams have been put on hold. She’s pulled some 16 hour days and worked weekends while in charge of 45 Guardsmen who’ve augmented UNLV Medicine’s highly successful curbside testing program since April 23rd. Guardsmen have worked in a number of areas, including security, holding up signs to communicate with drivers, delivering specimen samples and by taking phone calls from Nevadans hoping to be tested for the virus.

How well has she done?

Well, Guard commanders now also want her planning and operational expertise on hand for the start up of another testing site in Las Vegas.

To Longworth, medical school and the National Guard complement each other.

“I have the opportunity to merge two parts of my life together -- really, two parts of my identity -- to accomplish a common mission. It allows me to use the leadership skill set I have been developing through my service in the military with what I’ve learned in medical school to help my community during a pandemic. I will not pretend that balancing the National Guard with medical school has been easy. It certainly has not. I fly up to Reno one weekend a month, often the weekend before an exam during my first and second years. There have been times my C-130 flight got canceled or delayed and I had to figure out how I was getting home for clinical rotations the next day. Despite these challenges, being part of the Nevada Air National Guard has always been worth it to me. I love serving my state and my country.”

While the heat in recent days hasn’t been easy to handle, Longworth is proud of the

Guard’s role at the UNLV testing site. “Our team on the National Guard side is 100 percent volunteers. Nobody is forcing them on the mission...while the heat is difficult to work in, with safety and prevention measures in place, they are doing an excellent job.’

“I’m in the Guard so I can be there when my state and country need me. I am fortunate to be part of a medical school that is military and veteran friendly. I am also lucky to have a military family that cheers me on throughout medical school milestones."

-- Caleena Longworth

Longworth has seen some emotional situations at the UNLV site. “Some patients are so nervous that they might have the virus they have difficulty driving and almost drive over the tent we have set up...another time a mother and her two-week-old baby had to be swabbed because they had symptoms of the virus -- there were a lot of tears then.”

Longworth is confident she’ll do well on the medical school exams she’ll take later this summer. “I’m studying on part of the weekends, whenever I can," she said. At present, students in her class who’ve already taken the exams are taking non-clinical electives, including computer based learning on subjects that range from ultrasound to internal medicine. “I’m hoping my service on a medical emergency mission will serve as an elective,” she said.

Her goal of becoming a physician began in the wake of her surgery at age two to remove a defective extra kidney -- the ureter emptied into the wrong place, causing life-threatening infections. “I followed up regularly with my family doctor throughout childhood. I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I was about 10-years-old...I have grown up keenly aware of how lucky I am to be alive...When I reflect on my life’s purpose -- why I was granted the opportunity to live past my toddler years -- the answer I come with is to carry on the work of my saviors.”

Longworth’s confidence -- she plans on being a member of the UNLV School of Medicine’s first graduating class in May 2021 -- comes in large part from overcoming many obstacles earlier in her life. She was an honor student in school despite a home life that was often chaotic, where food stamps were frequently necessary, so she and her three sisters had a decent diet.

“My mom was a single mother for the majority of my life, cutting hair to make a living...In my early childhood, we were evicted from several apartments because what my mom made didn’t cover all the bills...I feel like we moved every couple of months and each time we put our things in storage and moved in with my grandma and grandpa. They lived in a 16 foot RV.”

Longworth enlisted in the Air Force for four years so she could use the GI Bill to pay for undergraduate work at the University of Nevada, Reno. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree with honors and being accepted to medical school, she was commissioned by the Air National Guard as an officer. She hopes to serve part-time as a flight surgeon in the Guard.

Planning on becoming a family physician, Longworth says she’s happy with her busy life today. “I’m in the Guard so I can be there when my state and country need me. I am fortunate to be part of a medical school that is military and veteran friendly. I am also lucky to have a military family that cheers me on throughout medical school milestones. I’m truly lucky to be part of both organizations and couldn’t do it without support on both sides.”