Medical staff at the TRICARE Prime Clinic (TPC) Suffolk celebrate the completion of their first year with a cake cutting ceremony and cookout on Aug. 27.

TPC Suffolk falls under the leadership of the Branch Health Clinic (BHC) Norfolk Tetrad, who is aligned with Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP). Cmdr. Darla Dietrich, BHC Norfolk Tetrad’s officer-in-charge, praises TPC Suffolk’s ability to come together, accomplish tasks and overcome obstacles, indicative of a family.

“I think they are committed to excellence,” Dietrich said. “As a team, its super special to see how they come together, whatever the issue, concern or project of the day is. We are literally in the top of every category across the area. Everybody here just excels at coming together as a team to accomplish the tasks. Everyone here is just one big family.”

TPC Suffolk opened their doors for patient care on Aug. 27, 2018 and since then, BHC Norfolk has stepped up on deployability and readiness, becoming an active duty only primary care clinic, and sending a couple thousand beneficiaries to TPC Suffolk. Dietrich also thinks the location of TPC Suffolk is ideal, catering to an area densely populated with active duty members and their families.

“It’s a great opportunity for the families in the Hampton Roads area,” Dietrich said. “When BHC Norfolk moved towards an active duty only primary care clinic, we moved about 2,000 beneficiaries here. And with this area of Suffolk growing so much, it is just wonderful that family members can come here. We are open until 7 p.m. every evening so you don’t have to worry about your busy work schedule as a mom or a dad to get your child in.”

Theron Bryant, TPC Suffolk’s medical director, is truly impressed with how much his team has grown in the past year, as well as how well they work with each other going through the “interesting challenges” the team faced early.

“I have been incredibly impressed with the team that we have had, the entire team has exceeded my expectations,” Bryant said. “We had some pretty interesting challenges starting out. Initially, the metaphor I would use to describe it was ‘we were building the ship while actually afloat’. We were still trying to sort out supplies, processes, and just the dynamic of working with people in a new setting. And to do all of that while performing so well that we are at the top of nearly every metric, it was just beyond my expectations.”

As the U.S. Navy's oldest, continuously-operating military hospital since 1830, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military members and their families. The nationally-acclaimed, state-of-the-art medical center, along with the area's 10 branch health and TRICARE Prime Clinics, provide care for the Hampton Roads area. The medical center also supports premier research and teaching programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsman for future roles in healing and wellness.

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