Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Corpus Christi kicked off National Nurses Week May 6, honoring the nurses assigned across the command’s four clinic locations.
National Nurses Week runs from May 6-12, to coincide with Florence Nightingale’s May 12 birthday and has been a recognized event since 1954. The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse, in recognition of the 200th anniversary of Nightingale’s birth.
Currently, 18 Navy nurses and 27 civilian nurses care for patients at NMRTC Corpus Christi and its Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Units located in Kingsville and Fort Worth, Texas, and the command's detachment in San Antonio.
Social distancing and other measures put in place to help stop the spread of COVID-19 prevented any formal celebrations this year, but didn’t stop the command from pausing to honor the service and sacrifice of the nurses who ensure America’s service members are medically ready to deploy anywhere around the globe on a moment’s notice.
Capt. Raul Carrillo Jr., the Senior Nurse Executive at NMRTC Corpus Christi says that with nurses on the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19, casually saluting nurses with a “Happy Nurses Week!” was simply insufficient.
“Working through this crisis, our nurses collaborated with our Medical Corps, Medical Service Corps, Civilian Corps, and Hospital Corps, rallying our efforts in a unified response to COVID-19,” Carrillo said. “The team quickly identified the importance of single-point access and screening, establishment of a pharmacy drive-thru system and a robust push of tele-medicine services as key to our efforts in Force Health Protection for our active duty, civilian government workers, retirees, and their families.”
NMRTC Corpus Christi nurses have also deployed in support of Navy Medicine’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, serving aboard USNS Comfort and with Expeditionary Medical Force Mike.
Since the American Revolution, military nurses have served their country, providing unique contributions to military medicine during peace time and conflict. Nurses provide care to the people of the Military Health System, helping tie together uninterrupted levels of service and health care for our beneficiaries – while keeping military personnel ready to defend our nation and its interests.
Today, more than 27,000 military and civilian nurses serve leading roles to maintain military health and readiness and to protect, promote, and improve health care and military readiness in support of operational objectives.
The roles nurses play go beyond serving in a hospital and clinic, where they often connect patients and other medical personnel. They can also be found in research labs, in classrooms, evaluating informatics and performing analysis. Each area of expertise contributes to advancing the mission and impact of the Military Health System.
“I am humbled and very proud of our nurses and everything they have accomplished within a period of only three months,” Carrillo said. “We still have a long journey ahead of us as we navigate the "new" normal for our clinics as we continue to keep the health and wellness of our beneficiaries at the forefront.”
NMRTC Corpus Christi and its NMRTUs at Fort Worth and Kingsville provide ambulatory care services to over 13,000 enrolled beneficiaries comprised of military active duty, their family members, retirees and their family members in South Texas and Dallas/Fort Worth.
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2020 13:50 |
| Story ID: | 369339 |
| Location: | CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 94 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Compassion, Expertise, Trust: NMRTC-CC celebrates National Nurses Week, by Dale Davis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
