Photo By Chief Petty Officer Emilio Velez | Back row (left to right): (1) CDR DeAngelis, (2) Mr. O’Guinn, (3) SFC Nichols, (4)...... read more read more
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Captain Eric Hoffman Traveled to Virginia to visit NMLPDC's Tri-service Optician School (TOPS) and Hemodialysis “C” school. Here is his story.
Not long ago, I had an incredible opportunity to learn more about two operationally focused NMLPDC programs that prepare highly trained personnel to support very unique warfighter requirements, but many may not know much about.
First stop, Portsmouth, Virginia.
Located on the banks of the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, Virginia is the oldest continuously operating hospital in the Navy, NMC Portsmouth, “The First and Finest.” Not far from the original hospital, located in the old Naval School of Health Sciences (NSHS) building is a small office tucked away in a corner. This is the home of Navy Medicine’s Hemodialysis “C” school, responsible for training a small cadre of Corpsmen to become experts in artificially filtering blood from impurities when kidneys do not function properly. This life saving capability is not only maintained to support shore requirements at NMC San Diego, NMC Portsmouth, and WRNMMC Bethesda, but most importantly, operationally aboard the USNS COMFORT and USNS MERCY.
Organizationally, the Hemodialysis “C” school aligns under our Academic Programs Directorate, led by Mr. Glenn Smith and is one of three “C” schools under NMLPDC, the other two being the Tri-service optician school (TOPS) and the Oral Maxillofacial Laboratory Technician School. For those not too familiar with the Navy Corpsmen training pipeline, a “C” school provides advanced technical enlisted training in a particular skill. And that’s exactly what happens here.
The tremendous responsibility of training, preparing and mentoring our hemodialysis technicians lies with Mr. Glenn Herbert. Glenn is retired Navy, who enjoyed an extremely rewarding career as a Corpsman, initially trained as a Surgical Technician then cross-rating to hemodialysis/apheresis technician.
If you’re wondering, apheresis is the process of separating plasma and cells from the blood and reintroducing the cells to treat a variety of medical conditions and is no longer part of technician training.
Glenn not only excelled as a technician, but was a highly effective instructor as well. Following retirement, he transitioned into his current role as the only Navy Medicine instructor for our hemodialysis technicians.
Spending just a few minutes talking with Glenn about the program and his students, it was clear how passionate he is, taking great pride in preparing our sailors for their important mission. There is no doubt his students not only value his experience and knowledge, but his willingness to mentor, developing the sailor, technician, and individual, setting the foundation for personal and professional success. After an hour of conversation, it was clear to me Glenn exemplifies our culture of excellence and truly moves at the speed of relevance, continuously challenging himself and his students to be the very best, not just today, but every day. What a great, motivating start to my trip.
Next stop, Yorktown, Virginia.
If you’re an American history buff or are able to shake off the cobwebs of age and remember your elementary school history, you are very familiar with the battle of Yorktown, where the American colonists, with a little help from the French, were able to defeat the British Army and, as they say, the rest is history. Yorktown is also the home of Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown where the Naval Ophthalmic Support Training Activity (NOSTRA) and Tri-service Optician School (TOPS) are co-located.
For perspective, NOSTRA is organizationally aligned under the Naval Medical Logistics Command, which reports to Naval Medical Forces, Atlantic. TOPS is aligned under NMLPDC which reports to Naval Medical Forces Support Command. NOSTRA is responsible for manufacturing prescription eyewear for the uniformed services and others within the federal government to include the Executive Branch. TOPS is responsible for providing formal optical training to Army Optical Laboratory Specialist (MOS 68H) and Navy Hospital Corpsman (NEC L19A) students with quality training through a 24-week curriculum on the subjects of ophthalmic dispensing, ophthalmic fabrication and clinical optics. Upon completing the required curriculum, graduates are immediately able to function as an independent optician in any military environment.
CDR DeAngelis, Director and Dean of the Tri-service Optician School (TOPS), provided me a tour of his school and introduced me to his crew, which consists of both Army and Navy, highly talented and experienced instructors. Enthusiasm and pride in their critical mission was obvious.
Even though I wore glasses for many years, I never really thought much about the process starting with the eye exam and ending with a pair or two of prescription glasses. Pun intended, my “eyes were truly opened wide” when CDR DeAngelis described the detailed and intensive didactic and clinical training our young sailor and soldiers receive preparing them to provide critical support of warfighter requirements to ensure and preserve “sight to fight.” And even though much of the fabrication process is automated today, the students must learn and master topics in physics, mathematics, anatomy, and clinical processes to prepare them for all contingencies, ensuring warfighter readiness.
After a tour of TOPS and NOSTRA, I was honored to be a part of Class 21020’s graduation and would like to share my comments to the students.
“Thank you SSG Spruill. To our guests and family members, thank you for being here this morning to celebrate graduating class 21020.
CDR DeAngelis and TOPS staff, thank you for allowing me to be here today and for what you do every day preparing our students for their mission. Your hard work, dedication and commitment to their success, through instruction and mentoring, ensures our customers consistently receive exceptional support, the support they need to be successful.
Now, to class 21020. On behalf of CAPT Myaing, Commanding Officer, Naval Medical Leader and Professional Development Command, it is my honor to congratulate you on the occasion of your graduation, a culmination of demonstrating exceptional commitment and focus on achieving excellence. Your performance throughout this challenging course was noteworthy, attaining an academic average of almost 93%. While normally an incredible achievement, it is even more impressive knowing that your Dean, CDR DeAngelis, was committed to challenging you with ever more demanding examinations. There is no doubt, you were equal to the task, but just made the course that much harder for your successors.
While many consider graduation the end of a successful academic career, it also marks the beginning of a new chapter in your professional careers. Starting tomorrow, you will travel far and wide, from Korea and Germany to Texas, Colorado, Washington state and here in Virginia, supporting our customers, providing world-class care, ensuring their readiness and mission success. You are truly a member of a small, select tri-service community whose skills and knowledge, honed here at TOPS, will be the difference between just good enough and achieving operational excellence.
In conclusion and in recognition of our tri-service mission and in acknowledgment of our “one team, one fight” focus, bravo Zulu, Hoorah, Hooah, congratulations, and whatever the Air Force says for a job very well done!”
Clearly, the small, joint service TOPS staff to include: SFC Jason Nichols, HMC Jonathan Martinez, HMC Kirk Glenn, HM1 Kristina Bennett, HM1 Joshua Garnes, HM1 Erica Tanner, SSG Juanpaulo PonceDeLeon, SSG James Spruill, HM2 Adalberto Rosario, Mr. Sheldon O'Guinn and Drill Sergeants, SFC Lucas White, and SSG Paola Vargas-Fajardo are committed to excellence. Bravo Zulu for a job well done.
Returning to Bethesda, I couldn’t help but feel an enormous sense of pride, bowing my back and throwing my chest out just a little bit more than before, knowing the critical impact we, the entire NMLPDC team, has on the success of our customers, the warfighter. Without you and your dedication to excellence every day, those we support certainly would not be ready to perform their mission. My thanks to the hemodialysis “C” school and TOPS for being incredible hosts and for all they do, committed to a culture of excellence.
Captain Eric R. Hoffman, MSC, USN is the Executive Officer at Naval Medical Leader and Professional Development Command.
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2022 18:37 |
| Story ID: | 418208 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 616 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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