File:Update on Navy Medicine’s Efforts in Support for Wounded, Ill and Injured Service Members (IA 08717C3STATEMENT15Feb08HASCPBUMEDVADMRobinsonArmyMedicalActionPlanFinal).pdf

Statement of Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson, USN, MC, Surgeon General of the Navy Before the Subcommittee on Military Personnel
of the House Armed Services Committee.

"In the last year or so the interest and concern about the care and support being provided to our service members when they return from combat has increased dramatically. From those with severe injuries, to others whose significant injuries may not be visible to the naked eye, our nation is providing care to a generation of veterans unlike those from previous conflicts. Our advances in battlefield medicine have improved survivability rates so the majority of the wounded we are caring for today will reach our CONUS facilities; this was not so during past conflicts. These advances, leveraged together with our current concept of care, provides Navy Medicine with the opportunities to effectively care for these outstanding heroes and their families.

Continuum of Care
The Military Healthcare System is one of the greatest and most valued benefits our great nation provides to service members and their families. Each of the services is committed and determined to providing our wounded, ill and injured with the absolute highest quality, state-of-the art medical care from the war zone to the home front. For Navy Medicine the progress a patient makes from definitive care to rehabilitation, and in the support of life-long medical requirements is the driver of where a patient is clinically located in the continuum of care and how that patient is cared for. Where a particular patient is in the continuum of care is driven by the medical care needed instead of the administrative and personnel issues or demands. Medical and administrative processes are tailored to meet the needs of the individual patient and their family--whatever they may be! For the overwhelming majority of our patients, their priority is to locate their care as close to their homes as possible. We learned early on that families displaced for their normal environment and dealing with a multitude of stressors, are not as effective in supporting the patient and his or her recovery. Our focus is to get the family back to “normal” as soon as possible; allowing the patient and their family to return home and heal.

One of the cornerstones of Navy Medicine’s concept of care is to capitalize on our longstanding and effective partnership with the Marine Corps in caring for injured and ill Marines. The Marine Corps has always maintained a presence at our MTFs in the form of a Marine Corps Liaison Office staffed with Marine Corps personnel and administration experts. At the onset of OIF, the Marine Corps quadrupled the size of their Marine Corps Liaison offices at key casualty receipt locations anticipating the increased volume and unique needs of this patient population and their families. Since the beginning of OEF/OIF, the Navy and Marine Corps team embraced the similarities and differences in their cultures. Working side by side with Navy Medicine providers, the recently established Wounded Warrior Regiment (April 2007) provided Marine liaisons immediately available to the patient, their family, and the clinical care teams from the moment of admission to an MTF through discharge. Navy Medicine takes care of the patient’s clinical needs, and the Wounded Warrior Regiment becomes an optimizing adjunct to the patient care plan. The Wounded Warrior Regiment facilitates the development of a family readiness plan ensuring smooth transitions for the service members and those dedicated to their long term care. Based on a concept of care of “Marines taking care of Marines” the Wounded Warrior Regiment has ensured that the care provided to our wounded, ill and injured is not just a process, but a relationship that will endure over a lifetime.

Like the Wounded Warrior Regiment, Navy established the Safe Harbor program in 2005 to meet the needs of severely injured Sailors from OEF/OIF. It is expected that approximately 250 Sailors each year will need the services provided by this program which will include non-clinical case management for the Sailors and their families. Safe Harbor case managers are actively collecting feedback from program participants to closely monitor the program’s successes and where improvements are still needed."