Sailors, civilian staff, members of the community and distinguished guests celebrated Naval Health Clinic (NHC) Lemoore's 50th anniversary with events to commemorate this milestone, July 19.

Commissioned as Naval Hospital Lemoore July 1, 1968 with the mission to provide medical support at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, staff from the facility have supported a variety of military operations and humanitarian missions over the past five decades while providing quality care to Sailors, Marines, retirees and their families.

"Throughout the years, this command has consistently been recognized for demonstrating exceptional performance in the care of our beneficiaries," said Capt. Kristen Atterbury, NHC Lemoore commanding officer. "Our people are a team, a family of dedicated, talented and diverse military and civilian staff that are among Navy Medicine's very best."

Today, NHC Lemoore is housed in a modern 150,000 square foot facility that was dedicated in 2,000 and provides health care to 32,000 eligible beneficiaries at NAS Lemoore and NAS Fallon, Nevada. The clinic also provides dental care and administrative support to Navy, Marine Corps and international students at the Naval Postgraduate School, Defense Language Institute and the Center for Information Dominance in Monterey, Calif.

The ceremony included the filling of a time capsule with command memorabilia and other items contributed by organizations at the clinic, including the First Class Petty Officers' Association and the Civilian Club, a cake-cutting and the unveiling of a mural, designed and painted by NHC Lemoore Sailors.

Special guests included Vice Adm. Forrest Faison, Navy surgeon general and chief, U.S. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, who provided remarks at the event. The celebration was, in a way, a homecoming for Faison - Naval Hospital Lemoore, as it was known until the name was changed last year, was his first duty station after completing his residency.

"A great deal has changed since I reported here for my first duty assignment in 1988 as the base pediatrician after finishing my residency," said Faison. "The one thing that has not changed is the caring, compassion and commitment of the men and women of this command for those they serve."

According to Atterbury, NHC Lemoore has achieved several accolades and successes over the years, several of them recently, to include:
* Blue H Gold Star award for health promotion and wellness (2018)
* Retention Excellence Award (2018)
* Gold seal accreditation from The Joint Commission (2017)
* Navy Medicine Radiology Team of the Year (2017)

"I am the proudest CO in Lemoore," said Atterbury. "Not because of the accolades we receive as a command, but because of how we come together to ensure mission success by focusing on the readiness of our warfighters, adherence to standards through high reliability principles, and delivery of the highest quality of health care. We have the ability to handle any challenge and together, we celebrate our successes."

Here's to the next 50 years.

Navy Medicine is a global health care network of 63,000 personnel that provide health care support to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, their families and veterans in high operational tempo environments, at expeditionary medical facilities, medical treatment facilities, hospitals, clinics, hospital ships and research units around the world.

Navy Medicine West (NMW) leads Navy Medicine's Western Pacific health care system and global research and development enterprise. Throughout the region, NMW provides medical care to nearly 700,000 beneficiaries across 10 naval hospitals, two dental battalions and 51 branch clinics located throughout the West Coast of the U.S., Asia and the Pacific. Globally, NMW also has oversight of eight research laboratories across the U.S. and overseas that deliver high-value, high-impact research products to support and protect the health and readiness of service members.


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