An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Power Award Recognition for NMRTC Bremerton Operational Readiness Clinic

09 November 2021

From Douglas Stutz

Talk about ensuring a medically ready force by a ready medical force.When Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, Navy surgeon general and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery noticed that there was a backlog of periodic health assessments (PHA), he immediately set about to clear the holdup.Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Bremerton Family
Talk about ensuring a medically ready force by a ready medical force.

When Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, Navy surgeon general and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery noticed that there was a backlog of periodic health assessments (PHA), he immediately set about to clear the holdup.

Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Bremerton Family Medicine department organized an Operational Readiness Clinic to efficiently respond to the need in the Navy’s third largest fleet concentration.

They were officially recognized for their collective hard work with the Navy Surgeon General Power Award, Nov. 9, 2021.

“If a Navy command has personnel not medically ready, then they can’t deploy. Our Family Medicine put together a team effort to address the need. Their efforts show what working together is a team can accomplish,” said Capt. Patrick Fitzpatrick, NNHB/NMRTC Bremerton commanding officer.

A PHA is used as a screening method and measure to routinely assess the individual medical and dental readiness of all service members. For those commands preparing for deployment, it is a valued-added tool to help determine their collective operational readiness.

The recognition by the Navy surgeon general specifically focused on the innovative approach by Family Medicine. They came up with the idea of addressing the crucial PHA needed for medical readiness by implementing the Operational Readiness Clinic. The clinic streamlined the process, and improved the cycle time needed for PHAs from an average of 10.6 days down to 7.2 days for 250 Sailors.

“Your innovative approach represented a 32 percent improvement, contributing to a four percent increase in medical readiness in just six months. Your innovative efforts exceeded the surgeon general’s goal ahead of the completion benchmark. Your efforts were in complete alignment with the surgeon general priorities and deserve special recognition for a job well done. Bravo Zulu,” wrote Gillingham.

The surgeon general priorities – known as the ‘4Ps’ – are the framework for Navy Medicine’s mission of focusing on the readiness of the (Navy) Fleet and Fleet Marine Force and are described in part as follows:

People: Active, reserve and civilian medical forces are organized, trained, and equipped to support the integrated Naval Force. Navy Medicine is also a leader in the Navy’s culture of excellence – a culture that emphasizes signature behaviors over compliance. Mutual respect is the baseline and excellence is the custom.

Platforms: Navy Medicine will have modern and maintained program of record equipment sets and appropriate platform training in place that will provide the capabilities necessary to support the warfighter.

Performance: Navy Medicine will have programs in place to ensure all active duty personnel meet and exceed their operationally-focused knowledge, skills and abilities. Further, high value performance will be gained through such principles as high reliability, partnerships and data driven decision making.

Power: All elements of Navy Medicine, including personnel, equipment, infrastructure, and analytical capabilities are harnessed to produce medically ready forces and a ready medical force.

Guidance-Card-Icon Dept-Exclusive-Card-Icon