Air Force nurses serve in diverse positions at military medical treatment facilities throughout the country and around the world. They could be stationed anywhere from a large, multi-service hospital like Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, or at a small family clinic like Eielson Medical Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.
As a family health clinic nurse, Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis, a clinical nurse at Eielson, part of the 354th Healthcare Operations Squadron, explained how most of her focus is on dependents and retirees, but she also functions as a pediatric nurse due to the clinic s small size.
Navy Cmdr. Glenn Pete Bradford s COVID-19 vaccination mission exemplifies the Navy s unofficial mottos of Always courageous and Not for self but for country.
As a nurse, Bradford serves with Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Jacksonville and Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida, and is one of 139 service members assigned to Task Force Southeast - Jacksonville. The task force is the primary Department of Defense support organization for the Federal Emergency Management Agency s response to COVID-19 in the region. He is the assistant officer in charge of the mission.
The vaccination hub – chosen by FEMA and the state because it is a medically underserved area – is in the parking lot of a mall in northern Jacksonville, Bradford said.
Navy Lt. Karen Jimenez Gudino, is not only a registered nurse in the Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms (NHTP) Emergency Department at the Marine Corps Combat Development Command Twentynine Palms in California, she s also the daughter of Mexican immigrants.
They didn t possess strong language skills, but they did possess a sense of ambition for their children and a desire to raise them in the land of opportunity, Gudino explained.
Gudino became interested in healthcare from a nursing program in high school. Once you complete your first semester of nursing school, you can stand for that board and you can work as a certified nursing assistant in a hospital, she said. During high school she worked in a nursing home. It was really rewarding being able to help people and save lives, she said. Also during high school, she was in the chess club for four years and served as its president during her senior year. I m known as the chess master in the emergency department, she noted.
Military nursing is an ever-evolving profession. Since the 1700s there have been nurses in the United States military, tending to the injured and providing comfort to those in their care.
Within the Nurse Corps, responsibilities can range from serving as a practicing clinician to a health care administrator. Nurses are often asked to handle a wide variety of non-nursing tasks while still maintaining their clinical skills.
For Army Col. Vince Myers, an Army nurse serving as the chief of staff for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, this diversity and flexibility is what makes nurses a critical element of the medical team.
Editor s note: Thursday starts National Nurses Week 2021, and the Military Health System celebrates our nurses and their dedication to beneficiary care through a series of articles on Health.mil through May 12.
National Nurses Week honors the commitment, dedication and contributions of the nursing profession. For the nearly 30,000 nurses in the Military Health System, the recognition is especially relevant as they have served on the front lines of the COVID-19 response and take leading roles to advance military health and readiness now and in the future.
Nurses have contributed to military readiness throughout history, evolving their function with every experience. From Florence Nightingale s establishment of nurse education programs following her volunteer experience aiding wounded soldiers in the Crimean War of the 1850s, the role of nurses has expanded beyond serving in hospitals and clinics.