WEBVTT 00:00.370 --> 00:02.240 - So today I had the chance to blend 00:02.240 --> 00:05.250 a little bit of ceremony, and say goodbye to 00:05.250 --> 00:07.370 an amazing officer, and his family, 00:07.370 --> 00:10.460 and as well as spend some time with my Blanchfield 00:10.460 --> 00:12.550 teammates and family, and visit. 00:12.550 --> 00:14.950 See, the team is really kind to show me some of the 00:14.950 --> 00:16.630 things that we had all been working on 00:16.630 --> 00:18.900 when I was here, as a commander, that have come to fruition. 00:18.900 --> 00:20.380 The first thing I want to say is say thanks 00:20.380 --> 00:22.910 to the team that I am following. 00:22.910 --> 00:25.710 They've done great stuff, been a very busy, 00:25.710 --> 00:28.270 dynamic time in Army medicine. 00:28.270 --> 00:30.750 The military health system is going through transition, 00:30.750 --> 00:34.050 and so, what I need us all to do, as a healthcare 00:34.050 --> 00:36.290 system, is understand that some things 00:36.290 --> 00:37.950 are foundationally not changed. 00:37.950 --> 00:39.020 So I have three priorities. 00:39.020 --> 00:41.590 The first priority is access to 00:41.590 --> 00:42.980 safe, quality healthcare. 00:42.980 --> 00:44.931 As I said, we're a healthcare system, 00:44.931 --> 00:48.270 and that is foundational, and it also is 00:48.270 --> 00:50.710 what enables my second priority, which is readiness. 00:50.710 --> 00:52.140 And that's the Chief of Staff for the Army, 00:52.140 --> 00:54.380 the Surgeon General's priorities. 00:54.380 --> 00:56.197 And a lot of folks have chatted with me and, "Okay, 00:56.197 --> 00:57.920 "then, why is it number two for you?" 00:57.920 --> 01:00.310 And I said, it's not really number two for me. 01:00.310 --> 01:02.610 The way the Army generates, the way Army medicine 01:02.610 --> 01:05.090 generates readiness and meets the Chief of Staff 01:05.090 --> 01:07.630 of the Army and the Surgeon General's number one priority, 01:07.630 --> 01:11.190 is by running a safe, quality healthcare system, 01:11.190 --> 01:13.270 having access to that system, and that's how 01:13.270 --> 01:16.240 we maintain readiness and deliver readiness to the Army. 01:16.240 --> 01:19.490 The third priority is to support the transition 01:19.490 --> 01:21.420 of the military health system. 01:21.420 --> 01:24.010 As per the National Defense Authorization Act, in 01:24.010 --> 01:27.755 2017, the Defense Health Agency, which is based 01:27.755 --> 01:31.420 out of Falls Church, Virginia, is gonna assume 01:31.420 --> 01:33.850 administration and management of all the 01:33.850 --> 01:35.490 military treatment facilities in the 01:35.490 --> 01:36.323 Department of Defense. 01:36.323 --> 01:39.550 So for all our services Army, Navy, Air Force, we're 01:39.550 --> 01:43.080 all gonna come under one organization from 2017, 01:43.080 --> 01:46.630 and we're gonna start this transition this year, 1 October. 01:46.630 --> 01:49.040 So our region, Regional Health Command Atlantic, 01:49.040 --> 01:50.681 is likely to be one of the very first regions 01:50.681 --> 01:52.610 to start working through this. 01:52.610 --> 01:55.230 So, we'll have a lot of our focus and energy 01:55.230 --> 01:57.550 on making sure that transition is successful. 01:57.550 --> 02:00.320 We just have to remember, particularly as we transition, 02:00.320 --> 02:01.950 that we're not losing our identity. 02:01.950 --> 02:04.340 Our role and what we do has not changed, 02:04.340 --> 02:07.110 and collectively, all the military health system 02:07.110 --> 02:09.740 works towards the same desired instinct, 02:09.740 --> 02:13.690 which is safe, quality, access care to our beneficiaries, 02:13.690 --> 02:16.190 so that we are prepared to be able to 02:16.190 --> 02:19.050 send service members in harms way, 02:19.050 --> 02:20.860 and we're able to go in harms way with them, 02:20.860 --> 02:23.260 and take care of them in the deploy environment. 02:27.710 --> 02:29.310 - This is kind of a quiet place. 02:30.610 --> 02:33.560 - I want the focus to be on, yup, we're health care 02:33.560 --> 02:35.070 system, we take care of sick people, 02:35.070 --> 02:37.020 but we really need to start focusing on 02:37.020 --> 02:38.950 if we're gonna really improve readiness, 02:38.950 --> 02:41.870 on maintaining health and identifying folks 02:41.870 --> 02:44.960 at risk for injury and illness, and then when they 02:44.960 --> 02:48.120 are ill and injured, intervening early and sooner, 02:48.120 --> 02:51.520 in order to get them back to full duty. 02:51.520 --> 02:54.530 And that we continue to meet and deliver 02:54.530 --> 02:56.870 what our beneficiaries, both in a deployed 02:56.870 --> 02:58.960 and garrison environment deserve. 02:58.960 --> 03:00.870 Some things that we have to keep doing, 03:00.870 --> 03:03.060 we have to keep evolving as a health care system. 03:03.060 --> 03:05.229 So I'm gonna stay focused on Blanchfield, 03:05.229 --> 03:07.686 and all my MTF's in the region. 03:07.686 --> 03:10.300 We have to challenge ourselves, to make sure that 03:10.300 --> 03:12.270 we're meeting our patients, and we're providing 03:12.270 --> 03:13.940 them opportunity and engaged, 03:13.940 --> 03:15.650 that we're out in the community, and that 03:15.650 --> 03:19.160 we're thinking, not just on getting people healthy, 03:19.160 --> 03:22.390 but keeping people healthy and maintaining wellness. 03:22.390 --> 03:25.250 With respect to our operational mission, getting out 03:25.250 --> 03:27.580 forward, and delivering health care. 03:27.580 --> 03:28.900 Doing things a little different. 03:28.900 --> 03:31.350 If you push it forward at the point of injury, 03:31.350 --> 03:33.560 that increases readiness, because you're able to 03:33.560 --> 03:36.460 identify and rehab faster, and get soldiers 03:38.803 --> 03:41.136 back to duty, full duty. 03:41.136 --> 03:42.870 - [Interviewer] Okay, ma'am, thank you. 03:42.870 --> 03:45.970 - And number three, how can our region 03:45.970 --> 03:49.380 best support the Army, as well as all branches of service? 03:49.380 --> 03:52.900 - So, you know, seems like I'm saying the same things, 03:52.900 --> 03:54.690 because we do it well, right? 03:54.690 --> 03:55.810 We do it well, already. 03:55.810 --> 03:58.750 It's to be the best military health system that we can 03:58.750 --> 03:59.583 possibly be. 03:59.583 --> 04:03.880 Be the best Army medicine health system that we can be, 04:03.880 --> 04:06.340 and we do that through delivering access 04:06.340 --> 04:07.940 to safe, quality healthcare. 04:07.940 --> 04:10.110 What I could challenge all of us to do, 04:10.110 --> 04:11.929 is to understand when we go into 04:11.929 --> 04:15.640 the deployed environment, it is almost always joint, 04:15.640 --> 04:16.910 and with coalition partners. 04:16.910 --> 04:19.980 So, keep that in mind, that I'm exceedingly proud 04:19.980 --> 04:22.450 to wear U.S. Army on my chest, exceedingly proud, 04:22.450 --> 04:24.470 have been so for over 20 something years, 04:24.470 --> 04:26.523 right, I'm not giving you the full number. 04:28.076 --> 04:31.160 But I am more proud of serving my nation, 04:31.160 --> 04:33.087 and doing that with other service members. 04:33.087 --> 04:35.070 [Interviewer] Thank you, ma'am. 04:35.070 --> 04:37.270 - And number four, as the former commander 04:37.270 --> 04:39.480 of Blanchfield, what impacted you the most, 04:39.480 --> 04:40.930 about returning here today. 04:40.930 --> 04:43.286 - Oh, wow, so I feel really blessed, 04:43.286 --> 04:46.020 because I've gotten the opportunity to come back, 04:46.020 --> 04:50.270 within almost a year to the day that I left, 04:50.270 --> 04:52.230 and so the neatness in that opportunity 04:52.230 --> 04:54.650 is is a lot of the people haven't changed. 04:54.650 --> 04:57.170 So what impacted me the most was the people. 04:57.170 --> 04:59.090 What impacted me the most was being asked 04:59.090 --> 05:01.570 to host Colonel Lang's retirement. 05:01.570 --> 05:04.190 You get asked a lot of things, as a general officer to do, 05:04.190 --> 05:06.610 but to come back and do at a place that mattered, 05:06.610 --> 05:09.633 and with people that still matter is a blessing.