U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), visited Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) in North Chicago, Illinois, Sept. 23-24, to see firsthand how the integrated Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) team and facilities function, and to gain greater insight into how policy impacts its operations.

During the visit, Place led an All-Staff Town Hall and spoke to over 150 Navy and VA staff members of the FHCC, attending either online or in person, on the importance of integration, flexibility, and versatility in the face of the growing complexity and challenge of providing patient-care and maintaining a medically-ready fighting force.

“We've got to stop worrying about who's the ‘us’ and who's the ‘them’,” he said, “What are we doing to take care of the of the responsibilities that we have delivering healthcare to America's sons and daughters? Whether that's actively serving in their families, retirees, veterans shouldn't matter to us. We've all been on the same team at one point.”

During his visit, Place and Command Sgt. Maj. Michael L. Gragg, senior enlisted leader of the DHA, toured the Lovell FHCC main hospital to meet with facility staff and learn about their daily operations and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. While touring a medical-surgical ward, Place asked Registered Nurse (RN) Jan Genovez, a VA employee, about the staff’s readiness for handling COVID-19 cases, which have not generated shortages of staff, beds, or other resources at Lovell throughout the past 18 months.

“COVID was quite a change,” said Genovez, about the pandemic’s initial impacts to the ward in spring 2020. “But we learned to adapt and utilize our resources to the best of our ability. And this being our third round, we’ve been able to apply what we’ve learned from the first two trials.”

The DHA leaders’ tour also included visits to the FHCC’s clinics on Naval Station Great Lakes that medically prepare more than 40,000 recruits for military service annually, a mission that has continued seamlessly throughout the pandemic.

FHCC staff members who contributed to that specific outcome were among those lauded by Place for their exemplary efforts in patient care, and for their outstanding work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on nominations from their supervisors, four sailors and a civilian employee were presented coins from the general at the conclusion of the town hall.

“LTG Place participates in MTF site visits to connect with the staff doing the most important work there is in the MHS; healthcare delivery,” said Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Benson, chief of the DHA Director’s Action Group.

The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center is the nation’s first fully integrated medical facility between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. It serves active duty military personnel, their families and veterans, and its workforce is a blend of VA employees and Navy personnel, with its uniformed members assigned to Navy Readiness and Training Command, Great Lakes. Lovell FHCC’s main hospital is located in North Chicago, and it operates four Great Lakes Naval Station clinics and three community-based outpatient clinics for VA patients in McHenry and Evanston, Ill. and Kenosha, Wis.