NSHS Portsmouth Holds Disestablishment Ceremony

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Arthur N. De La Cruz, Navy Medicine Support Command

May 19, 2010 - PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy's first Hospital Corps School was officially disestablished May 14, during a ceremony at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va.

The Naval School of Health Sciences (NSHS) Portsmouth is closing after more than a century of training Navy corpsmen, Army and Air Force medics.

"This institution should be honored and remembered for the corpsmen who have given their lives and their time, and the last full measure of themselves for their brothers and sisters in harm's way," said Navy Surgeon General, and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Vice. Adm. Adam M. Robinson Jr. "NSHS Portsmouth has been a mentor and a steward. They have in fact been a leader, and have been the example of leadership for our corpsmen."

The school was first established in 1902 as part of the former Norfolk Naval Hospital. The current command building was constructed in 1942 and named after the school's first graduate, Pharmacist Edward May, who was appointed as a warrant officer, and later served as an instructor. NSHS Portsmouth was officially established in October 1995. The command has provided 17 naval officer and enlisted training programs and is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education and individual accreditations from a variety of national associations specific to particular training programs.

The school officially closes after its last class convenes in September, said NSHS Commanding Officer, Capt. Susan E. Herron, who also explained the school's future.

"NSHS is the people; people who have dedicated their all to our motto of excellence," said Herron. "NSHS is not building 104 – it is the Sailors who have graced its hallways and will continue to grace the hallways at Navy Medicine Education and Training Center and the Medical Education and Training Campus at Fort Sam Houston, Texas."

According to Base Realignment and Closure 2005, the mission of the command will transfer to Fort Sam Houston, Texas to the consolidated services, medical training and research facilities moving to that site after the school's last class convenes.

The school has seen approximately 800 students a year since 1995. As an echelon five command, its commanding officer reports to Commander, Navy Medicine Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education Command, who directly reports to Navy Medicine Support Command, based in Jacksonville, Fla.

"We are not disestablishing your obligation, we're only disestablishing one institution," said Vice Adm. Robinson, addressing students. "As NSHS Portsmouth disestablishes itself today it doesn't mean that it goes away, and it doesn't mean that there is something we should be sad about, because the best is yet to come."