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LATHAM, N.Y. -- The New York Army National Guard has been recognized as tops in medical readiness among large state forces across the entire National Guard.
Major General Jill Faris, the director of the National Guard Bureau's Office of the Joint Surgeon General, recognized New York’s leadership April 26, 2022, during the Medical Team Conference at the National Guard Professional Education Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Best Overall Medical Readiness Award recognizes the work that leaders up and down the chain of command and medical personnel across the state achieved during federal fiscal year 2021 to make medical readiness a priority for Soldiers, said Lt. Col. Luis Garcia, the New York Army National Guard deputy state surgeon .
“It starts with the leadership,” Garcia said. “Nothing comes to fruition without support from the adjutant general down to everyone else in the unit.”
The award is based on 90 percent of New York’s Soldiers falling into Medical Readiness Categories 1 or 2, which means they are able to do their missions and able to deploy, Garcia explained.
This means Soldiers need to have good dental health, which can be especially demanding, and also to be up to date for annual flu shots and other required vaccines.
The effort to get Soldiers vaccinated for COVID-19 was not a part of the award evaluation process for 2021, Garcia said.
New York’s competitors for this award included the states of Texas, California, and Illinois, among other states with Army Guard forces exceeding 10,000.
States with smaller forces and those in the middle compete for their own medical readiness awards in separate categories.
The data the awards are based upon come from the MEDPROS-- Medical Protection System—which the Army uses to track Soldier health, Garcia said.
This is the first time New York has been recognized in the seven years he has been working in the system, Garcia said.
Making sure Soldiers are medically ready takes a lot of organization and planning, said Maj. Lance Woodward, the operations officer for the state surgeon’s office.
The surgeon’s office coordinates with operations and training personnel 18 to 20 months out to ensure that units deploying on federal orders or for training have enough medical readiness weekend opportunities to ensure their Soldiers are fit, Woodward said.
At the same time, Medical Command and unit medical personnel evaluate individual Soldier medical records to ensure Soldiers who need more time or help to meet medical readiness standards get it, Woodward said.
For example, a Soldier might need more than one or two dental appointments or more time at a scheduled medical readiness drill, he explained. The Medical Command schedulers identify the Soldiers in advance and then allocate time for that Soldier to work with them.
“We do a great job of communicating with the medical points of contact in each unit to make sure each Soldier is taken care of,” Woodward said.
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.04.2022 10:44 |
| Story ID: | 419866 |
| Location: | LATHAM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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