Medical Laboratory Professionals Week recognizes the behind-the-scenes work laboratorians do to generate clinical lab results and, ultimately, guide the courses of treatment for patients throughout the military and civilian health systems.
The week, April 18-24, holds special significance this year as labs throughout the Defense Health Agency have been a key contributor to the fight against COVID-19.
Within military medicine, the laboratory community consists of officers, who serve as lab managers, technicians, who are doing the actual testing and reporting or lab work, and civilians, who do everything from sample collection to management. My mission as a lab officer, and the mission of the lab community as a whole, is to ensure timely and accurate reporting of results, said Lt. Col. Paul Nelson, chief of the Air Force Medical Service COVID Lab Team at the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency, located at DHA headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. Our job is to take the samples
Tanker medics from McConnell AFB are fighting COVID-19 in St Paul health.mil - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from health.mil Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Defense Health Agency officially established the Tidewater Market in southeast Virginia on April 19. This is the fifth Military Health System market established to manage military medical treatment facilities as they transition to DHA.
Tidewater follows the National Capital Region, Central North Carolina, Jacksonville, and Coastal Mississippi markets, which were established in January 2020. It is the first transition since the COVID-19 national health emergency was declared.
A market is a group of MTFs in one geographic area working together with its TRICARE partners, Veterans Affairs hospitals, other federal health care organizations, private sector teaching hospitals and medical universities, as well as other health care partners. Markets operate as a system to support the sharing of patients, staff, budget, and other functions across facilities to improve readiness and the delivery and coordination of health services.
TRICARE has more than a half-dozen pilots and demonstration projects underway that offer new and innovative medical services, treatments, and approaches, and that have the potential to become part of its permanent health care coverage. Many of these pilots are value-based initiatives that seek to reward better health outcomes, enhance beneficiary care experiences, and reduce health care costs over time, said TRICARE Health Plan Deputy Director Curt Prichard. These include projects for autism care, sexual trauma, and low back pain. These pilots and demonstrations are also looking to improve care through nurse navigators, a referral and appointing center and accountable care organization to make medical care easier for TRICARE beneficiaries.
Navy captain and board-certified pediatrician Lynelle Boamah confidently stands with feet firmly planted atop two recent significant months: February s Black History Month and March s Women s History Month.
As the commanding officer of Navy Medical Readiness and Training Command Twentynine Palms in California and director of Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms, she defied the unwanted advice from friends and neighbors in the poor section of Baltimore where she was born, who told her: Lynelle, you can never become a doctor.
She is now the first African American female Medical Corps commanding officer of a naval hospital.
Hers is the story of tenacity, drive, and the importance of mentors. Her mother, her biggest cheerleader, never discouraged her ambition.