Navy Medicine World Class Care… Anytime, Anywhere
Throughout the year, Navy Medicine sustained its capacity and know-how to deploy whenever, wherever, to meet the needs of our Navy and Marine Corps. We embarked aboard the Navy’s hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) to build trust and teamwork with partner nations. Navy Medicine ambassadors made an impact across the United States, engaging with citizens of local communities. Throughout the year, we did what we do best – enabling readiness, wellness, and health care for Sailors, Marines, their families, and all others entrusted to us worldwide by providing critical mission support on the sea, above the sea, below the sea and on the battlefield. We began the year with the 38th Navy surgeon general leading us toward a bright future.
Here’s a look back at a few memorable blogs from 2016:
January
Navy Medicine’s Resolution Roundup – Navy Medicine is dedicated to helping you live a healthy lifestyle. Maintain your New Year’s resolutions and reach your goals using these helpful tips to help you live healthy.
February
A Message from the Navy Surgeon General: The Zika Virus – Vice Adm. Forrest Faison assures that Navy Medicine is fully-engaged protecting you and your family from the Zika virus. “Our first priority is to ensure we offer the best possible care to any Navy Medicine patient in the safest way possible. Our team is closely monitoring the situation, following Centers for Disease Control guidelines and collaborating with our public health partners to protect our patients, our staff and our communities.”
March
Brain Injuries are like Snowflakes; each one Slightly Different – The organ in our skull is not just a lump of tissue, but rather a highly adaptable web of connections, capable of great things, but requires a great deal of care and maintenance as well.
April
May
A Starting Line for SPRINT: The Beginning of the Navy’s Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team – Early in 1976, psychiatrists involved in caring for survivors of the USS Belknap accident observed an increase in incidents of marital problems, alcoholism, anxiety, depression and unexplained illnesses. Review of medical literature indicated that “early and aggressive” intervention would have favorably altered the outcomes of similar disaster victims.
June
Hear No, See No, Feel No…Aging as We Get Older?
Lt. Laura Gaxiola, occupational audiologist, Naval Hospital Bremerton, strongly advocates that every male over the age of 50 receive a hearing test to detect any hearing loss they may not realize
they have. For those under 50, if there are any concerns about hearing or ear health, Gaxiola suggests consulting with their provider about getting evaluated by an audiologist.
July
Disrupt or be Disrupted – Navy Medicine has always focused on readiness and our forward thinking military medical leaders have proven that we learn, anticipate, and adapt with expertise that yielded unparalleled combat survival over the past decade. Sailors and Marines are now empowered with more information than in any other time in history and it will be their capital resource of ingenuity, creativity, and discovery that will lead to improved outcomes and experience of care.
August
Pacific Partnership: Global Heath Engagement in Action
An insider’s view of how the USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) team provides hands-on medical and surgical care, and participates in cooperative health engagements with the goal of developing enhanced health care capacity, capability and resiliency for everyone involved.
September
Why Suicide Prevention Holds a Special Place in My Heart
Chaplain of Navy Medicine shares his personal account of losing his brother to suicide.
He is intensely involved, making sure our Sailors are going to training, and making sure that every Sailor has access to the care they need. Like his brother, there are Sailors whose shipmates are going through similar challenges, manifesting warning signs that people don’t see.
October
Navy Medicine is Prepared to Care for Women at Sea – Surface Warfare Medical Institute in San Diego does it’s part to help Navy Medicine increase awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among female Sailors serving on Navy ships.
November
A Message from the Navy Surgeon General: Readiness, Health and Partnerships
According to Vice Adm. Forrest Faison, Navy surgeon general, it is Navy Medicine’s mission to keep Sailors, Marines and their family ready, healthy and on the job. As the 38th Navy surgeon general, he understands the significance of quality care and the increasing role patients play in their health care, along with those things that influence their health care decisions. In order to continue to meet the health care needs of those we are privileged to serve, he believes we must take strides toward change in a rapidly evolving world.
December
Knowledge Alone is not enough, but it’s a Good Place to Start
Capt. Tony Griffay’s, M.D., MC interest in global health began almost 40 years ago when he was an Army Special Forces medical specialist, during the height of the Cold War, using health care to affect strategic outcomes on the global battlefield. Fast forward to present day, Griffay just wrapped up his Global Health and Disaster Preparedness fellowship. The program is designed to develop full-time global health engagement leaders within the Navy and joint commands by providing formal knowledge and training. According to Griffay, “It is the program my whole career has led to and there is no way I could not have applied.”
