Photo By Lt. Denver Applehans | U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, (left) Surgeon General of the Navy and Navy...... read more read more
The Surgeon General of the United States Navy, Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, and Navy Medicine Force Master Chief Michael Roberts visited Sailors providing support to the Community Vaccination Center (CVC) at York College in Queens, New York on March 30.
One hundred and thirty-nine Sailors from 8 different Navy Medicine commands and a Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit are supporting FEMA and the State of New York as part of the national effort to increase the speed at which COVID-19 vaccines are being administered across the nation.
During the visit, Gillingham and Roberts spoke with Sailors about their experience at the Community Vaccination Center and collected some of the CVC’s best practices to share with the other 664 Navy Medicine personnel currently deployed across the United States at 10 medical facilities and five CVCs in support of federal COVID-19 response efforts.
“The most important reason Force Master Chief and I are here is to say thank you. Thank you for what you have been doing,” said Gillingham. “Your work will help us to get ahead of the power curve of this relentless virus.”
Several Sailors noted how the experience of working with other federal partners to provide direct support to Americans at home has been very rewarding.
“It’s been a rewarding mission, everybody is all in. It’s an engaged team, it’s an interactive team, it’s an empowered team, and it’s very much a team, from FEMA to DOD to the State,” said Cmdr. Trevor Ritland, Commanding Officer of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two and part of the senior leadership team at the CVC. “Because of this team all-in effort, our processes have improved greatly and we have been able to share these best practices across the nation as new sites stand up.”
Cmdr. Pandora Liptrot, a Navy nurse practitioner deployed to the site, also noted that though this mission is not typical for Navy personnel, it aligns nicely with the Navy Medicine priorities of People, Platforms and Performance to project medical power.
“I would sum this experience up in your four Ps, everything we talk about in your four Ps: People, Platforms, Performance, Power, it’s been exhibited here, said Liptrot. “It’s been a pleasure to deliver treatment to the people here in Queens and see the impact we are making here.”
Sailors at the site have been providing to shots to members of the local community since February 24th and administered their 100,000th vaccine the day of the visit. The site is currently able to vaccinate about 3,000 people per day with the COVID-19 vaccine.
When the site opened, according to a York College press release, York College President, Dr. Berenecea Johnson said, “We at York College are happy for the opportunity to serve in the Herculean task of vaccinating our people here in Queens. I want to thank Governor Cuomo for recognizing York as an important resource, not just as an outstanding institution of higher learning, but also as an important community resource for social justice.”
More than 5,208 Navy Medicine personnel have deployed to locations in the United States to support the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) during the pandemic. Active-duty and reserve Sailors have provided care from both hospital ships, deployed to rural hospitals to support COVID wards and provided support to the Community Vaccination Centers.
The Navy is only one part of the whole of DOD support to FEMA and HHS. As of March 30, approximately 3,800 military medical and support personnel from the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Forces are currently working, or will soon work, in 16 states and one territory as part of the federal vaccine response to the pandemic. These military personnel deployed are all working under the command of US Army North and ultimately US Northern Command and have administered approximately 1.7 million vaccines.
For more information regarding CVCs, please refer to the FEMA Community Vaccination Centers playbook at: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_community-vaccination-centers_playbook_03-12-2021.pdf
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2021 12:43 |
| Story ID: | 393345 |
| Location: | QUEENS, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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