Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Minh-Thy Chu | NORTH CHICAGO, Il. (July 15, 2022) Incoming Commanding Officer of Navy Medicine...... read more read more
GREAT LAKES, Ill. -- Navy Medical Corps Capt. Chad E. McKenzie assumed command of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Great Lakes July 15, in a virtual and in-person ceremony at Naval Station Great Lakes, relieving Capt. Jeremy J. Hawker.
NMRTC Great Lakes is the command located at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Ill. McKenzie also takes on the role of deputy director of Lovell FHCC, which supports both the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs by providing health care to service members – including Navy recruits – military dependents and veterans in southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois.
When NMRTC Great Lakes was established in 2019, the resources of Lovell FHCC that provide medical care and support for Department of Defense beneficiaries were aligned under the management oversight of the Defense Health Agency. Navy Medicine retains principal responsibility for operational readiness of the Navy and Marine Corps. To complement the transition, Navy Medicine established the co-located NMRTC Great Lakes at Lovell FHCC.
Hawker, a Navy Nurse Corps officer, temporarily assumed command of the FHCC June 1 after serving as the Lovell FHCC executive officer. His next assignment is commanding officer, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Patuxent River, Md.
During his time as executive officer of Lovell FHCC, Hawker ensured approximately 40,000 Navy recruits were medically fit for their first Fleet assignments after graduating from the Navy’s only “boot camp” at Recruit Training Command, Naval Station Great Lakes. As the Hospital Incident Command System Incident Commander at Lovell FHCC during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawker established a COVID-19 vaccination process and infection control guidelines to minimize the spread across more than 3,000 staff members. He also established partnerships with Advocate Condell Medical Center and John H. Stroger Jr. (Cook County) Hospital to enhance trauma training for Navy medical professionals.
Presiding Officer Navy Medical Forces Atlantic Commander Rear Admiral Matthew Case thanked Hawker for his dedicated leadership as both the executive officer and commanding officer of Lovell FHCC and NMRTC Great Lakes. “You’ve been able to optimize services to support the world’s most deserving patients, those who choose to serve our country,” Case said.
At the conclusion of his remarks, Case presented Hawker with a Meritorious Service Medal, fourth award, for his leadership of 3,142 personnel and “one of the most distinct Navy Medicine commands, resulting in the provision of high-quality health care for 165,000 beneficiaries, 55,000 recruits and 12,000 students across the 12-state region.”
Hawker thanked the “tremendous team of sailors and civilian counterparts for their outstanding commitment to our mission of ‘Readying Warriors and Caring for Heroes.’’
Looking back on the past year, Hawker said, “NMRTC Great Lakes’ performance has been nothing short of impressive, constantly exceeding expectations despite a challenging environment and during a time in our country where our national health care system was stretched, and our Navy enlistment recruitment goals were consistently challenged.
“Despite these obstacles, the sailors of NMRTC Great Lakes, with our VA partners, stepped up and navigated these obstacles to ensure their readiness and that of our future naval forces,” Hawker said.
Hawker praised NMRTC Great Lakes sailors for supporting more than 33 missions across the globe during the past year, serving “on ships and in austere land environments to ensure our country’s mission of defending democracy, was maintained and secured.”
Teams of medical professionals deployed to two hospitals, in Indiana and the state of Washington, when COVID-19 demands were the highest and the hospitals’ staffs were overwhelmed. Hawker added, “NMRTC Great Lakes personnel also responded to Operation Allies Welcome in Quantico, Va., to support their primary care mission for 2,500 refugees who fled Afghanistan for a better life.”
Hawker finished his remarks by saying he is leaving NMRTC Great Lakes and Lovell FHCC in the “great hands” of McKenzie, “whose leadership and skills will take both this command and FHCC to the next level.”
McKenzie holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and is board-certified in pharmacotherapy. He most recently served as commanding officer of the U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Naples, Italy, and simultaneously filled a Defense Health Agency role as Military Treatment Facility Director of the U.S. Naval Hospital Naples, Italy, the largest naval hospital in Europe.
McKenzie has served in both pharmacy and hospital leadership roles at a variety of overseas and stateside naval medical facilities, including U.S. Naval Hospital Keflavik, Iceland. He gained operational leadership experience in 2010 while deployed as the pharmacy mentor to the Afghan National Army under NATO Training Mission Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
McKenzie said while he never expected to hold command more than once in a career, “I’m excited by this new opportunity to provide to critical medical support to the Navy’s force generation pipeline so we can continue to ready our naval forces for operational deployment around the globe … embedding NMRTC Great Lakes within the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center is one-of-a-kind, honing our readiness as military medical professionals while caring for our nation’s veterans, our active duty service members and their families.”
The change of command took place at Ross Theater at Naval Station Great Lakes and was livestreamed on the Lovell FHCC Facebook page, where it is available for viewing: https://www.facebook.com/lovellfhcc.
About Lovell FHCC: Lovell FHCC is the nation’s only fully integrated Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense health care facility. Lovell FHCC serves veterans alongside service members and their families, at its main hospital in North Chicago, Ill. Veterans also are cared for at Lovell FHCC outpatient clinics in McHenry and Evanston, Ill., and Kenosha, Wis. The FHCC also operates USS Red Rover, USS Osborne and USS Tranquillity Recruit Training Command clinics, and Fisher Clinic at Naval Station Great Lakes. Approximately 3,200 Navy, VA civilian employees and civilian contractors work at Lovell FHCC.
| Date Taken: | 07.15.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2022 15:58 |
| Story ID: | 425099 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 343 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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