Rear Adm. Kenneth Iverson, commander, Navy Medicine East, visited Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP), Feb. 5.

Iverson toured NMCP, the Navy's oldest continuously running hospital, to personally engage with staff about their jobs and get an in-depth look at various capabilities of the medical center.

"A patient's perception of the care they are receiving can be greatly impacted by the staff they are working with," Iverson said. "The knowledgeable and caring staff members I have met at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth show me that our patients are getting the best possible care and that NMCP is living up to the motto, 'First and Finest' on a daily basis."

Iverson's visit started with meeting the board of directors and recognized several staff members for their hard work. He then toured different departments throughout the command and was briefed on the capabilities and future plans of each department.

The department visits included the pharmacy, main operating room, post anesthesia care unit, special precautions unit, intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit, progressive care unit, cardiac catheter lab, obstetrics, neo-natal intensive care unit and the Healthcare Simulation and Bioskills centers.

"Visits like these allow us to show our leadership that patients are getting an incredibly high level of care," said Capt. Darin Via, NMCP's commanding officer. "It also allows our staff the opportunity to personally speak with leadership, as well as see that the leadership genuinely cares about the work they do and the environment they work in."

NME is one of two regional commands that manage Navy Medicine's global health care system. It oversees the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of medical, dental and other health care services to approximately one million patients across almost 100 medical centers, hospitals and branch clinics throughout the United States (East and Gulf Coasts from Great Lakes to Key West, Florida), Spain, Italy, Greece, Cuba, and Bahrain. Its public health activities also extend globally.

NME's area of responsibility includes more than 26,000 doctors, nurses, hospital corpsmen and support staff who provide the full spectrum of health care. In fiscal year 2015, this staff supported 6 million primary care and specialty care clinic visits, admitted more than 35,000 patients to its hospitals, filled 7.3 million prescriptions and delivered 6,300 babies.

For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit www.navy.mil/.