Photo By Sgt. Rachel Wilridge | Retired U.S Navy Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono walks with Col. Amal Chatila, the...... read more read more
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SEATTLE, Wash. – Retired Navy Vice Admiral Raquel C. Bono, former chief executive officer and director for the Defense Health Agency, visited the Task Force West Army Mobile Hospital at the Seattle Event Center, Washington, on April 6, 2020.
The visit to the Task Force West Army Mobile Hospital comes less than a month after Bono was named the director of the Washington State COVID-19 health care response team by Gov. Jay Inslee. In her current role, Bono will advise the governor with actions needed to address the capacities and necessities across the Washington health care system.
Army Col. Laura Elliott, the commander of the 62nd Medical Brigade on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and commander of Task Force Medical West, escorted Bono around the mobile hospital and explained the various capabilities inside.
“I think it was very important for her to come and see the capability that's here,” Elliott explained after the tour. “Because we can always talk about what the DOD and the military offers, and she does have the military background, but to come and see the actual layout and understand the capabilities that are here and ready for the state of Washington, I think was the most important factor of our visit.”
Bono, who served for 36 years in the United States Navy, served in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as head of casualty receiving for a fleet hospital in Saudi Arabia. Her extensive career also includes leadership roles such as deputy director for Medical Resources, chief of Naval Operations. Before retiring, Bono served as the 11th Chief, Navy Medical Corps and the director of the Defense Health Agency from 2015 through 2019.
Elliott also expressed Bono’s interest in the mobile hospitals full capability.
“She was very interested in the lab,” Elliott said. “The microbiologist talked her through the BioFire. that’s the test for the COVID-19 positive. And then as we walked around, she's also a clinician, so she had many questions on what we might have had to do to change our capability to fit this requirement.”
The 250-bed mobile hospital, which is staffed by military nurses, doctors and support staff, contains several key sections that allow for proper care of patients. Those sections include Intensive Care Units, which are equipped for monitoring but also have ventilators, and Intermediate Care Wards for post-surgical or some medical patients that have conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure or post trauma.
Bono and Elliott also inspected the hospital’s sterilization unit where all equipment being utilized in the operating rooms is sterilized. Elliott mentioned in a press brief at the mobile hospital that the initial operating capability is established and ready to receive patients.
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.15.2020 21:21 |
| Story ID: | 366766 |
| Location: | SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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