JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
A-N-D - three tiny letters making one small word that makes a huge difference.
I have been thinking a lot since I arrived at Joint Base Charleston about how the Navy and the Air Force are now operating under one umbrella to streamline business and generally make things more efficient. As a result, I started thinking about the Naval Health Clinic Charleston specifically, and how there are countless examples of partnerships within the walls of NHCC that make us a stronger organization.
Within the walls of the Captain John G. Feder Joint Ambulatory Care Clinic, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are working jointly in many areas to provide better patient and family centered care to beneficiaries of both organizations. We continue to think outside of the box and work creatively together. We are pursuing new ways to operate, providing value for both agencies, and saving taxpayer money, while at the same time maintaining the highest possible standards of patient care. This cooperation makes both the NHCC and the VA better than they could be by themselves.
Within our staff, we have active duty and civil servants and contractors and volunteers, all working together as one team. They take care of Charleston's active-duty population and a large dependent and retiree population together. It is because of this partnership between all of our staff that we can continue to ensure active-duty members are medically ready for deployment and dependents and retirees have all their medical needs met. Our clinic is proof that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are countless other organizations across JB Charleston that work jointly as we do.
I challenge each of you to continue seeking new ways to operate and reach deeper levels of cooperation. The partnerships here at NHCC and across Joint Base Charleston heighten the level of service that we provide on a daily basis.
This diverse mix brings credit to the Department of Defense and makes me proud to be a part of it.