Author: Joel Schofer, MD, MBA, CPE
Navy-Specific Travel Guidance
The SECDEF extended the world-wide Stop Movement through 30 June 2020 and the Acting SECNAV released an associated ALNAV. As such, the Navy updated its consolidated COVID-19 NAVADMIN to reflect the new stop movement date, and provided updated information on a number of topics, to ensure the NAVADMIN is a “one-stop shop” reference for our Navy leadership, Sailors, civilians, and their families.
Major updates include:
- Consolidates guidance.
- Incorporates Fleet feedback and provides clarifying language throughout.
- Incorporates updated force health protection guidance.
- Addresses Fleet mission essential training and Midshipmen summer training.
- Addresses pregnancy, leave, Common Access Cards (CACs)/ID cards, Navy Medicine service updates, selection boards, and casualty and mortuary affairs.
- Provides a bibliography of other important COVID-19 policy updates.
- Moves reporting criteria and requirements to a separate and stand-alone NAVADMIN.
I will have more than a few e-mails and phone calls today to try and sort out what this all practically means for those coming into and leaving GME, promotion boards, etc. and will put out specific guidance on those topics once I can. I wanted to get this out there, but I may not have answers to your questions right away.
As always, if you have questions about your orders your Detailer is your go-to resource, not this blog. My Detailer hat is 5 years old.
Comfort Admits Patients From New Jersey
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Scott Bigley,
NEW YORK (NNS) — The hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) began admitting patients from hospitals in New Jersey April 17 in an effort to expand its support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts.
New Jersey state hospitals coordinated with Comfort doctors to ensure patients could be effectively transferred across state lines and aboard the ship to receive care.
“Every one of those that we pull from the community or from the city hospitals is one more open bed for New Jersey hospitals to refill,” said Capt. Patrick Amersbach, commanding officer of the medical treatment facility aboard Comfort. “I’m very proud of the crew, our medical providers, nurses, support staff that are providing outstanding care to the people of New York City and New Jersey. We look at it as one patient at a time.”
Moored in New York, the ship serves as a referral hospital for critical and non-critical patients without regard to their COVID-19 status. Comfort is working with Javits New York Medical Station, federal and state officials as an integrated system to relieve the medical systems for both New York City, as well as nearby New Jersey, in support of U.S. Northern Command’s Defense Support of Civil Authorities as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Comfort is a seagoing medical treatment facility that currently has more than 1,200 personnel embarked for the New York mission including Navy medical and support staff assembled from 22 commands, as well as over civil service mariners.
Naval Postgraduate School Executive MBA Call for Applications for SEPT 2020 Start
(The new MC career path sets the expectation of a management degree to get senior leadership positions…here’s one that’s free except for books, which probably cost me less than $1,000 in total when I did it from 2012-2014.)
Call for Applications
Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA)
Graduate School of Defense Management
Commencing September 2020
Distance Learning Program using a Web-based, Virtual Classroom Environment
The EMBA is a nonresident, part-time online program for military officers O-4 and senior (O-3 admitted by waiver), federal employees GS-12 and senior or equivalent, and qualified defense contractors. During this 24-month distance-learning program, students acquire the latest knowledge and skills in financial management, acquisition, program management, policymaking, and decision-making. The team-based curriculum includes the latest in defense relevant studies. Students who complete the degree program also earn DAU Level II equivalencies for all program management functional training.
Courses are delivered over the Internet using a web-based, virtual classroom tool with synchronous, real-time interaction between faculty and students. These online technologies use collaborative communication tools that deliver learning opportunities to students regardless of geographical location. Students participate in class one day per week, approximately 6-7 hours per day. To use the virtual classroom, students will need Internet access and audio-video capabilities suitable for web-enabled interactions with instructors and other students.
There are two one-week residency requirements at the NPS campus in Monterey, CA. The EMBA program starts with the first one-week residency requirement which includes an orientation and a graduate-level course. The second one-week of resident instruction is required during year two of the program. Other than these two visits to NPS, students complete all instruction from their home locations. Eligible active duty Naval officers have no cost except for the requirement to purchase textbooks and course materials.
Completed Application Packets are due by 6 July 2020
Please visit the EMBA website at www.nps.edu/emba for more information or contact EMBA Administration at emba@nps.edu or (831) 656-2562. Program information briefings for potential sponsors and students are available upon request.
Update to Travel Restrictions
Here is a Military Times article about it and the text of the DoD press release below. Many people will have questions, but until we get the Navy specific guidance (like a NAVADMIN) it will be hard to answer them:
Effective today, Secretary Esper approved an extension to the stop move order through June 30 to aid in the further prevention of the spread of COVID-19. While the Department acknowledges that this order will have great impact on our service members and their families who are looking to proceed with their lives, the rapidly changing environment has created significant risks to service members, as the DOD continues personnel movements and travel. The decision was made in order to protect U.S. personnel and preserve the operational readiness of our global force. The Department now has procedures in place to allow for additional waivers and the resumption of travel for several categories of travelers that were previously suspended, including deployments.
The guidance can be found here and helpful information can be found here.
Joint Professional Military Education I Primer
We know that we are increasingly emphasizing the completion of Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) at a time where there is a waiting list to get into the Navy’s on-line version, so CAPT Anthony Keller, the Medical Corps Career Planner, put together this 1-pager on how to get JPME I.
Bottom line – There is currently no wait for the Air Force on-line version, and it doesn’t matter which version you do. You don’t have to do the Navy version.
Update to Restriction of Movement (ROM) Guidance and PCS Moves
While we have no official policy yet on PCS restrictions, the following story from Military.com seems to indicate we’ll get it soon:
Military Travel Ban Extended Until June 30; Some Restrictions Eased
We have a new NAVADMIN, though, about restriction of movement (ROM) with a press release here:
From Commander, Navy Installations Command Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) — Even during unprecedented times, defending the nation is what the Navy does best, while ensuring those who don the uniform remain safe.
In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and keep Sailors healthy, unit commanders now have the authority to place personnel on a 14-day Restriction of Movement (ROM) period prior to deploying, getting underway or conducting operations.
According to NAVADMIN 113/20, which provides an update to previous guidance regarding ROM, unit commanders can also place new personnel on ROM status prior to integrating them with their shipmates.
When personnel are on ROM, they will be directed to remain in their homes, quarters such as unaccompanied housing, or temporary lodging that meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidance. Sailors in a ROM period may conduct essential tasks, such as laundry and outdoor exercise, while maintaining six feet from others.
Complete details are available in NAVADMIN 113/20, which was released April 17.
OB/GYN Virtual Town Hall for GME Applicants on 15 MAY at 1700 EST
The OB/GYN Specialty Leader, CDR Shannon Lamb, and the Program Directors of the OB/GYN Residency Programs at Naval Medical Center San Diego (CDR Kevin Byrd), Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (Lt COL Trimble Spitzer), and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (LTC Rhiana Saunders), would like for you to join us for a virtual town hall meeting on Friday, May 15, at 1700 EST, to provide an opportunity to hear about a career as a Navy physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and to answer questions you may have about the residency programs available.
The dial in information is:
Dial-In Number:
Commercial, (210) 249-4234
DSN, 421-3272, (312) for Overseas DSN
*** The Conference ID and PIN are needed to dial in***
Conference ID: 2015# Pin Code: 323521#
During the initial discussion, please ensure your phones are on MUTE so everyone is able to hear and the conference is not interrupted with background noise. Once the speakers open the conversation to questions, you may then un-mute your phone if you have a question to ask.
You may also pre-submit questions to the specialty leader at:
Shannon dot V dot Lamb dot mil < at > mail dot mil
A summary of the questions/answers and discussion will be made available on the armed forces district ACOG blog.
We look forward to speaking with you.
VR,
CDR Shannon Lamb
Message from the SG – The Power of Navy Medicine
Esteemed Navy Medicine Shipmates,
I have never been more proud of our organization and the amazing work you do in support of our Nation and the U.S. Navy. The power of Navy Medicine is one of the most important weapons in our country’s arsenal and we are making a difference by bringing it to bear against this invisible adversary all across the globe. In his update to all Navy Flag Officers and Senior Executive Service personnel the Vice Chief of Naval Operations wrote yesterday: “Our Surgeon General, and the entire Navy Medicine team have been working 24/7 since this pandemic began, and even with Navy providing over 70% of DoD’s deployed medical forces, they are leading DoD research efforts on COVID prevention, testing and immunization solutions.” You are doing an incredible job during these challenging times and your effort and impact in this fight are recognized daily throughout the Navy and Marine Corps.
We are a solution-focused organization which leverages high-velocity learning to be resourceful and innovative, especially in the face of our current national emergency. As our One Navy Medicine team continues to learn more about the coronavirus, the scientific and medical counsel we provide to our Sailors, Marines, and their families will evolve as well. We will also improve our processes for how we marshal and deploy our forces; maintain, transport and deliver vital supplies; improve communications up and down our chain-of-command; and how we can take better care of our people.
In the spirit of continuous improvement, I recently challenged our Clinical Communities to take a hard look at how we can provide additional support by employing all qualified providers directly in COVID-19 care, irrespective of their specific specialties. Not surprising, they responded. We are seeing great examples of our clinicians stepping out of their traditional roles to fulfill boots on the ground support and standing watch to help meet the growing demand for COVID-19 health care support. Below are a few concrete examples. In the coming weeks I will share and highlight more with you:
- Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton: Dental officers stand ready to care for any urgent dental needs AND have integrated with their medical colleagues to serve a vital role in the hospital’s COVID-19 response plan. They are now serving on the “front line” in the flu tents and providing essential screening and triage to patients.
- Naval Hospital Bremerton. Expanded partnerships with the state’s Northwest Healthcare Response Network and the Washington State Hospital Association to develop a crisis standard of care flow path, which improves closer coordination in triage and send patients to available beds.
The imperative to move out of our comfort zones is not new. This is what we do, and I am confident you feel the same way. During my career, particularly in operational settings, I leaned heavily on my experience as a GMO and undersea and diving medical officer to care for patients, long after I became an orthopedic surgeon. Although we have many subspecialized doctors, nurses, corpsmen and ancillary support personnel we are all care-givers at heart. I appreciate your ability to reconnect to those fundamental skills that initially attracted you to a medical career, especially your caring and compassion as we work to defeat this adversary. I am greatly encouraged by the use of virtual health, particularly in psychological health, to ensure continuity of care for patients. All of us are under tremendous stress, and the availability of support services is reassuring — particularly during this crisis.
I encourage you to visit https://navylive.dodlive.mil/2020/03/15/u-s-navy-covid-19-updates/ and familiarize yourself with the U. S. Navy COVID-19 Mitigation Framework and the U. S. Navy COVID-19 Prevention Framework. Both documents provide our operational leaders with actionable information, help protect the Force, and preserve warfighting readiness. Importantly, they reflect the critical support that our Navy Medicine public health, research and development, and emergency preparedness experts, along with many others, have and continue to provide. Now more than ever, our leaders are relying on us for sound force health protection advice and recommendations.
In closing, I want you to know that while we are operating far from our comfort zone, our strength as a team of dedicated expeditionary medical professionals will see us through this crisis and we will emerge even stronger and more mission ready. My heartfelt best wishes to you, your loved ones and the American people fortunate to have you in their corner.
With my continued respect and admiration,
SG Sends
Bruce L. Gillingham, MD, CPE, AOA
RADM, MC, USN
Surgeon General, U.S. Navy
Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 