JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Madigan Army Medical Center was honored to host a visit from U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Deydre Teyhen, director of Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific (DHN-IP) and commanding general of Medical Readiness Command, Pacific (MRC-P), along with Command Sgt. Maj. Mike Contreras, on January 13, 2026. The visit underscored the hospital's commitment to excellence in military healthcare and recognized the outstanding contributions of its staff.
In addition to touring the facility and engaging with staff, Teyhen presented coins for excellence to select staff members who have consistently exceeded expectations and embodied the core values of Madigan Army Medical Center. Those recognized exemplify providing care with compassion to Madigan’s valued patients. This special recognition served as a powerful acknowledgment of their dedication and the vital contributions they make to the hospital's mission.
"We were grateful to welcome Brig. Gen. Teyhen to Madigan," said Col. James Watts, director of Madigan Army Medical Center. "Her engagement with our staff and her recognition of their hard work is a tremendous morale booster. It reinforces our shared commitment to supporting our people, which enables them to provide the best care for our community."
The visit from Teyhen serves as a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Madigan team and its vital role within DHN-IP by providing world-class care for tens of thousands of beneficiaries, including active-duty service members, retirees, and their families.
“Our job is to get warfighters medically ready for the fight, which means that we go beyond what the general non-military healthcare system does,” Teyhen said. “Again, if you have an ACL reconstruction in the civilian world, rehab typically stops when you can walk without a limp and without crutches oftentimes, right? That's not sufficient in military medicine; we actually have to get them back to being able to defend our nation, and that part is so exciting, because that is a part of our ability to care for people that extends beyond what any normal insurance would pay for."
During her visit, Teyhen also hosted a leader professional development (LPD) session, providing valuable insights and guidance to the Madigan team. Teyhen's LPD, titled "Readiness, Reform, and the Evolution of Military Medicine," also featured a guest panel of local retired military general officers who shared their leadership experiences regarding military medicine with the staff. Teyhen also engaged directly with staff members, taking the time to understand their individual roles in delivering high-quality, compassionate care to service members and their families.
The panel assembled for the discussion represented an extraordinary concentration of senior leadership, blending extensive military command experience with deep expertise in both operational and institutional healthcare. Their collective knowledge spans the full spectrum of the U.S. Army and military medicine, from combat operations to corporate boardrooms.
The panel included leaders from combat arms (retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James Collins), the Medical Corps (retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Farmer), the Medical Service Corps (retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Dennis LeMaster), and the Medical Specialist Corps (Brig. Gen. Teyhen). They provided a 360-degree view of Army leadership, integrating the perspectives of warfighters, clinical commanders, and medical administrators. The panelists’ combined decades of experience covered the full spectrum of healthcare leadership in military medicine at various echelons within the Department of War.
Each panelist was uniquely equipped with generational and institutional knowledge to discuss the complex interplay between leadership, military readiness, healthcare transformation, and the enduring connection between the armed forces and the communities they serve. Collins, a retired combat arms officer whose last active-duty assignment was here at Fort Lewis as the deputy commanding general for I Corps, responded to a question from the audience about transformation and change in the Military Health System.
“Change is continuous,” said Collins. “My experience as an adult, 35 years in uniform and another 15 years of post-uniform service representing the Army outside the wire to the community as the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army, I would say there are some notable milestone events when it comes to change; certainly the advent and implementation of the Defense Health Agency is one of them,” Collins added.
When considering the inner-workings and challenges for patients in the civilian healthcare world that are not experienced by beneficiaries in military healthcare, military medical providers have an advantage in providing access to care and services that patients truly need.
“We have that freedom to do the right thing for the patient,” added Farmer. “When I was on active duty, I often shared with our providers that we have the unique opportunity to provide the very best health care that a patient needs, without regard of the patient's ability to pay. That is very significant freedom that allows us to do the right thing all the time.”
In the Military Health System, adapting to defend the nation and sufficiently providing critical healthcare to warfighters at anytime and anywhere in the world is required.
“The fight we think we're going to fight in the future isn't the fight that we will actually fight,” LeMaster remarked during the LPD panel discussion with staff. “But all of you will evolve and rise to the challenge to make sure that we save lives,” he said.
Teyhen discussed the dynamic environment that personnel face in military healthcare and the need to overcome challenges. She emphasized the importance of preparedness and medical readiness as essential to the mission.
“We continue to uphold that promise of caring for America's finest, that top one percent of Americans who volunteer and qualify to serve our nation and their families and their retirees, and they are also seeing the progress you're making,” said Teyhen. “You know, I will say we're probably all tired of hearing about COVID-19, but the reality is, we're still in that recovery mode from COVID-19. Coming out of that, you guys are coming out strong, and I want to share that. Sometimes grounding ourselves with where military medicine has been and where it's going, what we've done in the past, I think, is very helpful.”
| Date Taken: |
01.26.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
01.26.2026 13:13 |
| Story ID: |
556773 |
| Location: |
TACOMA, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: |
29 |
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