27th SOMDG Medical Right Start educates Cannon newcomers

Photo By Senior Airman Drew Cyburt | U.S. Air Force Col. Danielle Cermak, 27th Special Operations Medical Group commander, speaks at Cannon Air Force Base’s first Medical Right Start briefing, Jan. 25, 2024. The new initiative provides 27th Special Operations Wing members and their families a baseline knowledge of medical care available at Cannon AFB and the 27th SOMDG’s medical processes.  

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, NM, UNITED STATES

03.26.2024

Story by Senior Airman Mateo Parra 

27th Special Operations Wing

The 27th Special Operations Medical Group began a new initiative to better inform newly arrived Air Commandos and their families about medical group processes and access to care, here, in February.

The new program coined “Medical Right Start,” is an effort to educate Cannon’s Air Commandos and families on all things medical, according to Dr. (Lt. Col.) Rene Hinton, chief of medical staff at the 27 SOMDG. Providing our Airmen and their families with a baseline knowledge of medical care here at Cannon and the 27 SOMDG’s medical processes is a priority, she said.

The monthly briefing will be mandatory for all newcomers to Cannon, and will take place on the fourth Thursday of the month at the Base Theater, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

The new program is an initiative born from the Medical Support Summit Cannon AFB hosted in September 2023. The summit included: leaders from Air Force Special Operations Command, the state of New Mexico, the Defense Health Agency, the Department of the Air Force’s Surgeon General Office, the DAF Exceptional Family Member Program, and local medical community leaders, and aimed to tackle the challenges Airmen and their families face at Cannon AFB regarding access to specialty medical care. Since the summit, these leaders have come together to discuss improvements and ways forward for the 27 SOMDG periodically, with the goal of improving care for Airmen and families.

While Cannon AFB Airmen and families face unique challenges regarding access to specialty medical care, there are capabilities and benefits to assist them with these challenges. The new Medical Right Start program affords Airmen certainty that they have the ear of medical program leaders and have the correct point of contacts that will address their concerns directly. It aims to inform and educate the Airmen on how the 27 SOMDG provides support to overcome these challenges.

The briefing provides Air Commandos and their families with the right tools and contacts in the 27 SOMDG to be active partners in their care. Some of the topics covered in the Medical Right Start brief are: TRICARE operations and patient administration (TOPA), patient advocacy, exceptional family member program (EFMP), mental health, pharmacy, health promotions, and clinical support services.

The new initiative began in January, and Airmen and their families can find the briefing as well as other medical resources, here: Cannon Air Force Base > Cannon Medical Resources (af.mil).

The goal of Cannon AFB’s new Medical Right Start program is to ensure that patients and caregivers understand the 27 SOMDG medical processes to increase patient satisfaction, and also enable them to be active partners in their care, according to Hinton.

• Date Taken: 03.26.2024
• Date Posted: 03.26.2024 18:33
• Story ID: 467103
• Location: CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, NM, US