Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point, located on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., has once again been recognized for its outstanding Health Promotions and Wellness program, receiving its seventh consecutive Navy Surgeon General's Health Promotion and Wellness Blue H gold star award. The clinic has now been recognized eight years in a row, having initially earned the Silver Eagle.

The annual award is presented to Navy and Marine Corps facilities which excel in the promotion of healthy nutrition, weight management, tobacco cessation programs, sexual health, fitness programs and alcohol abuse and injury prevention.

"Winning this award is a noteworthy achievement for us," said Paula Pendrick, NHCCP's Health Promotions Coordinator. "Participants from throughout the clinic are involved in health awareness and promotion efforts through their participation in health fairs, educational classes, running shoe clinics, committee meetings, 5K races, prevention and safety checks that screen each of our patients for alcohol, tobacco and weight issues."

The Blue H award is available at three levels of achievement: Bronze Anchor, Silver Eagle and Gold Star. Commands achieving 80 percent of the total points possible earn the Gold level award.

The Blue H Award organizes workplace-level information to form a tally of points for each command in each topic and category. The topics analyzed include responsible drinking, injury and violence-free living, healthy eating, reproductive and sexual health, psychological health, tobacco free living, and weight management. Commands eligible for the Gold Star level must achieve no less than 50 percent in each category and topic.

"When you hear that NHCCP has earned gold for the Surgeon General's Blue H award for Health Promotion and Wellness, you know it's truly a command collaborating award," said Pendrick. "It is the contributions of almost everyone at the command to provide supporting data for over 135 criteria to achieve this award."

"This is just another great example of how the staff at NHCCP excel day in and day out to bring outstanding medical care to the Sailors and Marines of Cherry Point," said NHCCP Commanding Officer Capt. Jay Woelkers. "The one consistent denominator for the Blue H at NHCCP through the years has been Paula Pendrick, our program coordinator. She has put together an outstanding program as evidenced by this eighth award."


Named after Medal of Honor recipient, Pharmacist's Mate 2nd Class William D. Halyburton, the Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point provides high-quality patient care to more than 33,000 active-duty members and Department of Defense beneficiaries. In addition to outpatient surgical services, NHCCP offers Medical Home Port (including family care and pediatrics), dermatology, internal medicine, orthopedics, physical therapy, mental health, pharmacy services, preventive medicine, aviation medicine and radiology to include MRIs.



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