By: Jim Wenzel, STRATCOM
November has come to a close and with it so does Army Warrior Care Month. As the action officer responsible for facilitating the month’s activities across the Army and promoting the theme ‘Army Strong–Family Strong: caring for warriors by supporting Soldier Families’, I feel there can be no more fitting conclusion to the month than the ribbon-cutting of the first community-based primary care clinic at Fort Campbell on November 30th. The Surgeon General of the Army, LTG Eric B. Schoomaker, was present at the event to inaugurate a dramatic shift in the way Army Medicine treats the medical needs of our Soldiers’ Families.
Breaking the tradition of drawing Families to on-base Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) for care, the Screaming Eagle Medical Home is the first of 17 soon-to-be constructed clinics located within the community. These new clinics are designed–much like Soldier Family Assistance Centers (SFAC) are for providing Warriors in Transition and their Families information and support services–to be a one-stop-shop for Family medical needs.
The accessibility and value these clinics provide cannot be overstated for spouses and children, who might otherwise spend the whole day traveling to an Army Hospital on post. The community-based primary health clinics are an innovation in expressing the mindset of Army leaders concerning Army Families.
Families provide a level of comfort, care, and support to Soldiers that cannot be found elsewhere. This support is especially critical during times of stress such as deployment and recovery from injury. By enhancing medical and warrior care programs designed to include a Soldier’s Family and meeting critical support needs of these individuals, Army leaders seek to improve the Soldier’s resiliency and ability to focus on the Army’s mission. Although Army Warrior Care Month is over, the Army’s mission to strengthen Army Families by expanding its programs and policies to support them continues to march on.
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