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85 Hospital Corpsmen are backbone of clinic staff
Pg. 4
Immunization
Nurse
Specialist
Stephen Dolak
recognized
with award
Lovell
Legends win
15 medals at
Veterans
Wheelchair
Games
Pg. 4 Pg. 2
September 2011 Official Newsletter of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center Vol. 3, Iss. 9
USS Tranquillity mission:
Get recruits to the fleet
In This Issue...
A fter the hectic days of in-processing, U.S. Navy recruits have
many long, difficult days ahead of them before they graduate.
Intense physical training can lead to sports injuries. Viruses
spread quickly in close quarters. Some need in-depth physicals for their
chosen specialties. And other recruits just need a little help when sleep
deprivation and stress take their toll.
For all those reasons and more, hundreds of recruits a week visit USS
Tranquillity, one of four Branch Medical Clinics that are part of the
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center.
“We’re taking care of recruits no matter what’s going on,” said Chief
Hospital Corpsman Juan Johnson, the senior enlisted advisor at the
clinic, which is on the grounds of Recruit Training Command (RTC) in
North Chicago, Ill. “And we’re getting them out into the fleet.”
The close-knit staff of 140 active duty Navy personnel and civilian
employees are proud to work at USS Tranquillity, where the main floor
halls are named after the Navy values of Honor, Courage and
Commitment, and the Special Physicals section is called “Team Valor.”
The backbone of the staff is its 85 Navy Hospital Corpsmen, Johnson
said. They are enlisted medical specialists who are cross-trained to
perform a number of duties, from Honor Team members “stuffing
records” in the medical records verification section to medical
assistants taking vital signs in the treatment room. Corpsmen even
work in the supply room.
(Continued on page 3)
Continuing
Promise
deployment
ends for
Lovell FHCC
Sailors
By Jayna Legg
Lovell FHCC Public Affairs
Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Christopher Scarce (left) and Hospital Corpsman 3rd
Class Joshua Buttler are on the “Honor Team,” the section that verifies medical
records at USS Tranquillity. (All photos by Jayna Legg)
Hospitalman Daniel Anderson, Physical Therapy Technician, monitors a recuperating
recruit’s workout in Sports Medicine and Rehabilitative Therapy. In addition to
visiting SMART, injured and ill recruits receive mental health care and go to sick call
at USS Tranquillity and its three clinics in the barracks at Recruit Training
Command. Special physicals for flight crew members, rescue swimmers, divers and
other sailors going into Special Warfare also are provided at USS Tranquillity.
swimming, 9-ball pool and other
events.
“I am especially proud of the
team spirit and camaraderie,
which was remarkable,” Fleming
said. “When some of our team
members were not in an event,
they came out to team members’
competition to cheer them on and
support each other.”
The trip included a block party
for the Veterans, their families
and coaches at Heinz Field, home
of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The
Legends also had the chance to
see the Chicago Cubs play the
Pittsburgh Pirates, and as a
bonus, “the Cubs swept the
series,” Fleming said.
In total, the Lovell Legends
brought home 15 medals. Steve
Aoyagi of Des Plaines, Ill., took
gold in table tennis and motor
rally. Karen Van Benschoten,
from Racine, Wis., took gold in
the slalom, motor rally, 9-ball
pool and Power 200, and silver in
table tennis. Ramon Calderon,
Waukegan, Ill., won silver in
weightlifting and bronze in
basketball. Dan Dorsch,
Evanston, Ill., won gold in
swimming. Nate Davenport, a
resident of the Community
Living Center, took the gold in
the Power 200 and silver in
Power Soccer. Gary Garland, also
a FHCC CLC resident, won
bronze in the Power 200 and
silver in the motor rally. David
Wells, Gurnee, Ill., won a silver
medal in softball.
W hat an amazing year we’ve had.
As we approach the first
anniversary of the Captain James
A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in
October, I can’t help but reflect on the
astounding strides we have made.
We cut the ribbon for our new medical
surgical ward. We broke ground for our new
Green House Homes. We activated the West
Campus addition and moved out of the Navy
Health Clinic Building 200H. Sept. 1 we cut
the ribbon on the first Caregiver Support
Center and a few days later began
welcoming home our 21 Sailors who
deployed for Operation Continuing Promise on board the USNS
Comfort in Central and South America.
We’ve continued to advance electronic health records integration,
despite many obstacles. We’ve hosted countless VIP visits to promote
the great work we’re doing. We’ve promoted 125 Sailors. We have
plans for a university-quality education center. The list goes on and on.
All of this was accomplished as we brought together the Department of
Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to stand up the first
federal health care center. We restructured, created new services,
integrated more than 500 Policy Instructions, and established the FHCC
as a DOD/VBA/VHA collaboration site providing an Integrated
Disability Evaluation System (IDES).
Under the Lovell FHCC banner, we continued old traditions and started
new ones as we began building a new culture that is the best of the VA
and the Navy. Also, through this August, we’ve cared for more than
4,000 inpatients and had approximately 852,000 patient visits to the
East and West Campus and our Community Based Outpatient Clinics.
These accomplishments don’t just happen. They come about through
the dedication and very hard work of our 3,000 military and civilian
employees, and let’s not forget – more than 1,000 volunteers. From
bringing dogs in for pet therapy, to delivering reading materials to
patients and acting as greeters, volunteers play an integral role.
Our first birthday is not about ribbon-cuttings and new buildings. It is a
celebration of our unity as the diverse military and civilian staff of the
very first health care facility of its kind in the nation. We should all feel
very proud of what we have accomplished. If I haven’t thanked you
personally, I want to say now, on behalf of our patients, thank you for
all you do to ensure we are Readying Warriors and Caring for Heroes.
I look forward to many great things for Lovell FHCC in the coming
year.
Leadership Commentary
It’s been an amazing year of accomplishments: Thank you!
By Patrick L. Sullivan
Lovell FHCC Director
The Apollo
The Apollo is the official newsletter of the
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health
Care Center. It is published monthly for staff
members, Veterans, military family
members and volunteers.
The newsletter is designed and published at
the Lovell FHCC in the Communications
Department.
3001 Green Bay Rd.
North Chicago, Illinois 60064
224-610-3714
www.lovell.fhcc.va.gov
www.facebook.com/lovellfhcc
www.youtube.com/lovellfhcc
issuu.com/lovellfhcc
Director,
Capt. Lovell Federal Health Care Center
Patrick L. Sullivan, FACHE
Deputy Director,
Capt. Lovell Federal Health Care Center
Capt. David Beardsley, MC, USN
Lovell FHCC Communications
Department Head
Mary Schindler
Public Affairs Officer
Jonathan E. Friedman
Public Affairs Specialist
Jayna M. Legg
Submissions to the publication can be
emailed to [email protected]
Factual Accuracy and Disclaimer:
Accuracy is very important to us and we want
to correct mistakes promptly. If you believe a
factual error has been published, please bring
it to our attention by sending an email to
[email protected]. Use of any social
media product does not imply endorsement on
the part of the Department of Defense or the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and may not be
available from all government servers. Content
on these sites are not edited for accuracy and
may not necessarily reflect the views of the
federal government.
2
Seven Veterans brought home 15 medals from national competition in Pittsburgh
Above, Dan Dorsch, of Evanston, Ill., won a gold medal in swimming. Below, David
Wells, Gurnee, Ill., won a silver medal in softball. (Photos by Karen Fleming)
S porting new shirts and hats
with their new team name,
the seven disabled Veteran
athletes on the Lovell Legends
team swept the competition at the
31st National Veterans
Wheelchair Games in August,
bringing home medals of all three
colors from Pittsburgh.
“I think it was the best games we
have participated in yet,” said
Lovell FHCC Recreation
Therapist Karen Fleming, who
coaches the team along with
Susan Brunner, also a FHCC
Recreation Therapist. “From the
transportation, volunteers, special
events, meals for the athletes,
competition venues, everything
was well-planned and
exceptionally well done!”
FHCC athletes win medals at Wheelchair Games
By Jayna Legg
Lovell FHCC Public Affairs
The Lovell Legends team is made
up of five outpatient Veterans
and two residents of the FHCC’s
Community Living Center.
Lovell athletes participated in
power soccer, softball,
weightlifting, baseball, slalom,
motor rally, table tennis,
USS Tranquillity (cont.)
3
“I think the work here is vital, especially what
we ask of our very junior corpsmen, straight
from Corps School,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr.
Kendra Nowak, who heads USS Tranquillity.
“If we don’t get these recruits taken care of,
from a common cold to getting their medical
records squared away, they can’t get to the
fleet, and the fleet can’t function without more
sailors.”
A fixture at the clinic is “Mr. Brown.” William
Brown, Medical Records Technician, loves his
job. “It’s a great place to work, and what
makes it great is the people,” he said. “They
are just good people.”
Brown, who has been a civil servant for 25
years, the last five at USS Tranquillity, starts
his long commute from Chicago at 4:14 a.m.
every day. After recruits check in at the
Quarterdeck, Brown is “where it all starts,”
Nowak said. At Brown’s desk, the medical
record that will follow a recruit throughout his
or her Navy career begins its journey. Brown
said he handles anywhere from 300 to 400
records a day.
“I just love working with the recruits,” Brown
said.
Nearly 37,000 recruits come through Naval
Station Great Lakes RTC annually, which
results in about 2,750 visits to USS
Tranquillity in the average week, Nowak said.
The main clinic is open seven days a week.
Medical staff also see patients at three sick call
locations in the barracks, which saves recruits
a trip to USS Tranquillity.
“If you can diagnose it with a basic physical
exam or an otoscope, ophthalmoscope,
stethoscope, and vital signs, then they can take
care of it out there,” Nowak said.
The “common cold” is the most frequent
diagnosis, Nowak said, although USS
Tranquillity sees patients for many other
reasons, including those who want to pursue
career fields with more stringent physical
requirements.
Special Physicals include those for flight
crews, rescue swimmers, divers and Special
Warfare jobs, for example SEALs and Special
Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen. Sailors
who want to serve on submarines also get
Special Physicals.
(Continued from page 1)
More photos @ Facebook.com/LovellFHCC
Hospital Corpsman Elyjah Bennett takes the vital signs
of a patient in the Treatment Room at USS Tranquillity.
(Photo by Jayna Legg)
“Every enlisted person going into those fields in
the Navy passes through here,” said Navy Capt.
Clifton Woodford.
“Our job is to make sure the person can safely go
and do what they want to do,” said Woodford, a
family practice doctor who said his job at USS
Tranquillity is fast-paced and challenging.
The number of Special Physical visits at
Tranquillity is about 260 a week, Nowak said,
which equates to more than 13,000 visits annually.
A steady stream of recruits visits the SMART
section of the clinic – Sports Medicine and
Rehabilitative Therapy. On a recent Friday
morning, the SMART room looked like any
civilian health club – packed with patrons working
out on an array of treadmills, weight machines and
other exercise equipment. The difference was the
number of attentive therapists, who charted
progress on clipboards as they monitored each
sailor’s efforts.
By the treadmills, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class
Andrew Long worked with a sailor recovering
If you can diagnose it with a
basic physical exam or an
otoscope, ophthalmoscope,
stethoscope and vital signs,
then they can take care of it
out there.”
Lt. Cmdr. Kendra Novak, who heads
USS Tranquillity
Why is “Tranquillity”
spelled that way?
Some may wonder why Tranquillity is
spelled differently. Because the Lovell
FHCC clinic is named after the ship, the
spelling is the same as the official name
of USS Tranquillity (AH-14), a 15,400-
ton Haven class hospital ship that served
on active duty during World War II.
Although USS Tranquillity was only in
use for a year, it’s known for transporting
survivors from the sunken cruiser USS
Indianapolis, from the Palau Islands to
Guam.
On July 11, 1945, the USS Tranquillity
steamed to Ulithi atoll in the Caroline
Islands and became the base hospital ship
for the USS Indianapolis rescue.
The ship had a bed capacity of 802 and a
crew of 568 officers and enlisted sailors.
It was one of the Navy’s first air-
conditioned ships and was equipped with
85,000 cubic feet of medical storage
space and a 100-bed field hospital. When
the war ended, USS Tranquillity brought
hundreds of injured men from the Pacific
back to the United States as part of Op-
eration “Magic Carpet.”
from pneumonia. “We’re getting his chest to
expand back up,” explained Long, a Physical
Therapy Technician.
“Pneumonia makes your chest muscles get
weak. We’re trying to get him back to where
he can do regular physical training,” Long
said.
USS Tranquillity also provides mental health
care to recruits, which encompasses a myriad
of services for many conditions, including
depression and anxiety disorders. That can
mean patients with extensive mental health
treatment histories or recruits who need care
for issues that develop during basic training.
In some cases, “we provide reassurance,”
Nowak said. “Some of them think they are
going crazy because they are sleep-deprived
and stressed. Most of the recruits do make it
through and graduate,” she pointed out.
One mental health focus is Psychological
Resilience Outreach, or PRO, which helps
recruits in medical hold status keep motivated
while they heal.
Also in the mental health section, recruits
waiting to be medically discharged from the
Navy may receive counseling from social
workers.
“Most of them really wanted to be here and
stay in the Navy,” Nowak said, “so there’s a
transition they have to go through when they
are discharged for medical reasons.”
The operations at USS Tranquillity “are a
confusing machine, but a well-oiled one,” said
Nowak, who added that leading the clinic has,
hands-down, been the most challenging job
she has had in her 15 years in the Navy.
William Brown is one of the first faces recruits see when
they come to USS Tranquillity for medical care. Brown,
a 25-year civil servant, is a Medical Records
Technician. (Photo by Jayna Legg)
Kudos Corner
When U.S. Navy and other mili-
tary service personnel at Naval
Station Great Lakes are deployed
overseas, they can thank Immuni-
zation Nurse Specialist Stephen
W. Dolak, for protecting them
against vaccine-preventable dis-
eases that are prevalent worldwide
or endemic to certain lands.
For his initiatives that dramati-
cally improved the immunization
program at Lovell Federal Health
Care Center’s Fisher Branch
Medical Clinic, Dolak earned the
American Nurses Association Im-
munity Award for June.
Since 2008, Dolak has worked as
Immunization Nurse Specialist at
Great Lakes. He has specialized in
identifying problems with vaccine
administration and implementing
changes to improve immunization
rates, efficiency and service stan-
dards.
Dolak’s supervisor, Dr. Gregory
Kaftan, Division Officer of the
FHCC’s occupational health
medicine department, credits him
for bringing “energy to a program
that had languished.
“He has demonstrated clear lead-
ership in promoting comprehen-
sive immunizations programs that
stay in step with the ever-
changing vaccination guidelines
and schedules,” Kaftan said.
Dolak advocated a redesign of the
immunizations facilities that al-
lowed the handling of a larger vol-
ume of patients. His improve-
ments helped increase the compli-
ance rate for tuberculosis skin test
interpretive readings from 60 per-
cent to 95 percent. Dolak also im-
proved the vaccine program to
protect against yellow fever, while
also devising a plan to reduce
waste of multi-dose vials of the
vaccine. Through his monitoring
of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s immunization
recommendations, Dolak imple-
mented a human papillomavirus
(HPV) vaccination program for
males.
Previously, the vac-
cine, which prevents
certain types of cancer
and other illnesses,
had been given only
to female Navy re-
cruits.
“His collaboration
with his colleagues
has greatly improved
the immunization
practice,” Kaftan said.
“The Navy and the
Veterans Administra-
tion are lucky to have
a nurse of his caliber
and energy constantly pushing for
the use of the state-of-the-art
thinking in vaccinations on behalf
of our sailors, retirees, civilians
and active duty personnel.”
4
FHCC Navy team provides medical care in Central America
Immunization Nurse Specialist Stephen Dolak recognized by American Nurses Association
Immunization Nurse Specialist Stephen Dolak specializes
in identifying problems with vaccine administration.
(Photo by Mary Waterman)
Left, Lt. Cmdr. Francine Worthington escorts a patient into the
Escuela Barra de Santiago medical site in El Salvador. (Photo by
Senior Airman Kasey Close) Above right, in Haiti, Lt. Joshua
Fair is assisted by Canadian Army Master Cpl. Joan Flecknell
(Photo by Navy Mass Communication Spc. 1st Class Brian A.
Goyak) Below left, in Costa Rica, HM2 Lester Dixon examines a
patient's teeth. (Photo by Brian Goyak) Below right, Cmdr. Tim
Ackerman explains a procedure to a patient at a medical site in
Barranca, Costa Rica. (Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Courtney
Richardson) All photos courtesy of USNS Comfort Public Affairs
Story courtesy of the American
Nurses Association