Top Brass Visits Lejeune Hospital

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (NNS) -- Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune (NHCL) welcomed several distinguished guests to the hospital and Marine Corps base March 30.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and Director, TriCare Management Activity, Dr. Jonathan Woodson, and Rear Adm. Michael H. Anderson, medical officer of the U.S. Marine Corps joined Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Vice Adm. Matthew L. Nathan for the visit.

NHCL's commanding officer, Capt. Daniel J. Zinder and fellow naval hospital leaders briefed Woodson, Anderson and Nathan about several key hospital programs involving medical care for the wounded, ill and injured. The hospital's Welcome Back-Medevac program, and model medical boards processing program, which has been adopted by other bases throughout the Department of Defense, were discussed in addition to a tour of the Mental Health facility and the recently renovated Marine and Sailor Concussion Recovery Center. They also met with senior military base officials and toured the facilities of the Wounded Warrior Battalion East.

Nathan's visit to the Lejeune area was his first as surgeon general. Nathan addressed the hospital staff in an all hands admiral's call and later joined approximately 300 personnel for a traditional "dining out" before departing Lejeune.

"I enjoy coming to the naval hospitals, including Camp Lejeune because this is the bedrock of what we do in Navy medicine. We exist to take care of the fleet and the warfighters as they prepare for the mission, during the mission and when they return," said Nathan. "You are not making headlines, you are the headlines."

During the tours, the secretary held focus groups with patients and staff to gain a better understanding of how care is provided and any policy obstacles to providing that care.

"We are very pleased to have Dr. Woodson, Vice Adm. Nathan and Rear Adm. Anderson visit our hospital to spend time with our phenomenal staff and see the advances we have made in caring for the wounded, ill and injured," said Zinder. "The hospital staff is intensely grateful for the opportunity to serve these most deserving men and women, in addition to all of our other beneficiaries."

Nathan became the 37th surgeon general of the Navy and succeeded Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson, who retired from the Navy after 34 years of service in a ceremony held in Washington D.C., November 2011.

Prior to assuming the reigns as surgeon general, Nathan served as commander, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Navy Medicine, National Capital Area where he was the Navy component commander to the largest medical integration and construction project in DoD history.

Nathan is board-certified and holds "fellow" status in the American College of Physicians and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He also holds an appointment as clinical professor of medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is a recipient of the American Hospital Association: Excellence in Leadership" award for the Federal Sector.

"If anyone were to ask you what you do for a living, you tell them your job description is that you change lives by making America better," said Nathan.

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For more news from Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, visit www.navy.mil/local/nhcl/.