Broome County partners with U.S. Department of Defense to launch Healthy Broome

DICKINSON — The Healthy Broome initiative will offer medical, dental, optometry, and veterinary services at no cost to Broome County residents from Aug. 11 to Aug. 20 this year at SUNY Broome Community College’s Ice Center, located in the town of Dickinson, just north of Binghamton. Broome County, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Military’s Reserve Forces, announced the program May 9. Healthy Broome is a community-health initiative through the DOD’s Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) program. Services will be available to any person or pet (dogs and cats only) in need at no cost, with no insurance required. All services are offered on a walk-in basis and are first-come, first-served each day, per the Broome County announcement. More details and service descriptions can be found at www.broomecountyny.gov/irt. Further updates will be available in the time leading up to the event on Facebook @HealthyBroomeIRT and Instagram @healthybroome. United Way of Broome County is coordinating volunteers to support Healthy Broome. Community members interested in helping this mission are encouraged to visit https://www.uwbroomevolunteers.org/ for more information. “Healthy Broome is an incredible opportunity to bring quality health services directly to the people of our community, at no cost,” Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said in the announcement. “This partnership with the Department of Defense allows us to meet critical needs for residents while helping our military personnel gain vital real-world training.” SUNY Broome President Tony Hawkins said the college is “honored” to host the Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) this summer, “providing vital support to our community while offering our Student Village as a home base for the dedicated service members participating in Healthy Broome.” “I look forward to the 2025 Healthy Broome County Innovative Readiness Training event. This program not only produces mission-ready forces through military training opportunities, but it also provides key services for communities such as Broome County,” Joseph Mihalko, Broome County Clerk and Southern Tier 8 board member, said in the county’s announcement. “Service members will provide medical, dental, vision, behavioral health, and basic veterinarian services. These Service members will benefit from real-world medical training, while Broome County as the community partner will benefit from no-cost medical care.”