Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) celebrated the grand opening of its newly established Patient Advocacy and Resource Center (PARC) with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 9 June, marking a significant milestone in how the command supports its beneficiaries.
The new facility serves as the central hub for NMCSD’s patient relations personnel and resources. It was designed to directly support the Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) Line of Effort 4—delivering the healthcare enterprise beneficiaries deserve—by modernizing patient advocacy and fortifying warfighter readiness.
“This facility represents our unwavering commitment to world-class service,” said Capt. Elizabeth Adriano, director of NMCSD. “Mission readiness requires that our active-duty service members and their families are not burdened by healthcare administrative friction. The PARC removes those barriers, ensuring our fighting force remains medically ready and free of the wayfinding challenges inherent in our system.”
Before the PARC’s opening, beneficiaries sometimes had to route through multiple departments across the sprawling hospital campus to resolve complex administrative or care concerns.
“Centralizing patient relations and resources into the PARC creates a unified, single point of contact for our beneficiaries,” said Jennifer Deer, NMCSD’s Patient Relations department head. “Patients now have a dedicated physical space designed to handle their needs efficiently. This embodies DHA’s mission by actively removing barriers to care and ensuring our patients feel heard, respected, and supported from the moment they walk through our doors.”
By consolidating patient advocates, beneficiary counseling, and referral navigation experts into one accessible location, NMCSD aims to eliminate the administrative fatigue that can accompany complex medical care.
“By streamlining support, service members and their families spend less time managing healthcare logistics and more time focused on their mission and well-being,” said Mimi Pau, NMCSD’s lead patient advocate. “This hub drastically reduces the 'runaround' patients sometimes experience and minimizes delays in resolving issues.”
For Jeff Apana, the former Patient Relations department head who recently retired and returned to attend the ceremony, the ribbon-cutting represented the culmination of a long-standing vision.
“Seeing the PARC open its doors today is incredibly rewarding,” Apana said. “We always envisioned a singular, welcoming space where patients felt prioritized rather than processed. To see the command leadership bring this concept to life is a proud moment for everyone who has worked in patient advocacy.”
That sentiment is echoed by the patient community, an NMCSD beneficiary and member of the Patient and Family Partnership Council (PFPC), noted the immediate impact the space will have on families.
“Navigating military medicine and TRICARE can sometimes be overwhelming,” said Joey Goward a retired U.S. Navy Master Chief and PFPC member. “Having a dedicated center like the PARC means we have a physical place to go where trusted experts are ready to guide us. It takes the guesswork and frustration out of getting the care we need.”
Moving forward, the PARC aims to shift NMCSD’s patient advocacy from a reactive response model to a proactive, educational strategy.
“The PARC will serve as an informational vanguard, actively anticipating administrative hurdles such as TRICARE policy updates, regional contractor transitions, and the complexities of the referral process,” Deer explained. “By providing preemptive education and personalized guidance before these transitions occur, we aim to intercept and prevent frustration.”
Deer added that the PARC is also setting its sights on proactively "welcoming home" TRICARE Plus beneficiaries who have been in the civilian network receiving care under Medicare.
Ultimately, the PARC’s leadership hopes the new physical space will change the very nature of healthcare administration at the hospital.
“Our long-term vision is for the PARC to fundamentally transform the dynamic between NMCSD staff and the patient community from transactional to relational,” said Deer. “We want the PARC to be viewed not just as an office to visit when something goes wrong, but as a trusted, everyday partner and navigator in the patient's healthcare journey.”
The mission of NMCSD is to optimize health and enhance readiness. NMCSD employs more than 5,500 active-duty military personnel, civilians, and contractors in southern California to deliver exceptional care afloat and ashore.