JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington, August 27, 2026—The director of Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific visited Airmen and leaders at the U.S. Air Force 62nd Medical Squadron/McChord Medical Clinic August 26 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to discuss their mission capabilities and medical support to the military community. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Andrew L. Landers, director of DHN-IP, met with U.S. Air Force Col. John Hatfield, director of McChord Medical Clinic and commander of 62nd MDS, and senior enlisted leader U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Czarina Herrera. He also received briefings from other leaders.
The McChord Clinic serves more than 10,000 enrolled patients, including active-duty service members, dependents, and retirees. Members of the clinic and 62nd MDS’ five flights briefed Landers on their current operations and mission impact. The Preventative Medicine flight, consisting of Public Health and Bioenvironmental Engineering, discussed their current joint projects with Army counterparts, including global emerging infection wastewater surveillance and vector collection.
Senior Airman Brycen Williams of the Human Performance Flight briefed their elements of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment program, Optometry, and Dental, and how they keep members deployable while contributing to the deployment process and medical clearances for the1,400 deployers it has processed in the last year.
The Medical Operations flight briefed Landers on their creative solution to the surge in shaving waiver appointments, implementing the Wing’s first ever group appointments and providing care for 219 members. They also discussed their outreach initiatives where they were able to reach more than 2,000 active-duty members and educate them on resources for telehealth and specialty walk-ins.
The Medical Support flight brought insights into how much support goes into keeping the McChord Medical Clinic running, delving into the intricacies of programs such as logistics and resource management where they secured over $1.1 million in funding for five facility projects last year.
Defense Health Agency civilian Molly Oleson, Clinical Nurse Officer in Charge, discussed an ongoing innovation project for patient check-in that would allow kiosk systems to integrate with Electronic Medical records. “Once off the ground this would decrease patient waiting periods and save time for both providers and medics during the check-in process, allowing them to focus even more on patient satisfaction,” said Oleson.
The Aerospace Medicine flight plays a key role in the Personnel Reliability Assurance Program, a program that ensures medically ready personnel perform sensitive nuclear and armed duties in the Air Force. Senior Airman Houchins briefed the flight’s medical processes and responsibilities for the program that oversees 138 members.
Landers closed the visit by hitting on the importance of integration between military Services. “Medical should be leading the way on joint integration; we like to get stuck within our own Services, but at the end of the day our mission is the same – providing the best possible care for our patients and taking care of our people,” said Landers.
Landers stopped at 62nd MDS/McChord Medical Clinic as part of a visit to multiple MTFs in the DHN-IP network, including Madigan Army Medical Center. DHN-IP is a Defense Health Agency network and overseas Army, Navy and Air Force medical and dental facilities spread from Washington and California to Hawaii, Japan and the Republic of Korea, with a military and civilian team of 15,000 providing healthcare to 223,000 TRICARE beneficiaries.