Navy, Academic Medicine Team Up During LA Navy Week

By Valerie A. Kremer, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Public Affairs

LOS ANGELES (NNS) -- Navy Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) examined shared initiatives in humanitarian assistance, family care programs and Wounded Warrior care, as part of Los Angeles Navy Week, July 29.

Rear Adm. Alton Stocks, commander, Navy Medicine East and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP), met with leadership and staff and toured the facility during the visit.

"It was a great opportunity to show the admiral our Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and patient care capabilities, especially since UCLA is involved in helping America's wounded military personnel through our Operation Mend Program," said Shannon O'Kelley, chief operating officer, UCLA Health System. "In addition, it was wonderful to learn more about the extraordinary and tireless care both UCLA and Navy Medicine provided during the humanitarian assistance/disaster relief mission to Haiti last year."

During the visit, top medical personnel and Stocks shared similarities and best practices in Navy Medicine's Project FOCUS (Families OverComing Under Stress) and Wounded Warrior care programs such as UCLA's Operation Mend.

Navy Medicine and UCLA collaborated in 2009 to establish Project FOCUS, a family-centered resiliency training program based on evidence-based interventions that enhance understanding, psychological health, and developmental outcomes for highly stressed children and families.

Stocks expressed his appreciation for the successful collaboration with UCLA on Project FOCUS in caring not only for patients, but the family as well.

UCLA medical personnel also shared their experiences with Stocks about UCLA's Operation Haiti. During this time, UCLA medical personnel contributed medical expertise to the Department of Defense's relief effort in Haiti.

"I have a deep connection to Operation Unified Response, Navy Medicine's humanitarian assistance/disaster relief to Haiti, since many of the Navy medical personnel who worked non-stop providing world-class care, were from NMCP," said Stocks. "We are extremely proud of the work Navy Medicine did in working closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civilian institutions such as UCLA.

During his presentation to staff, Stocks shared how Navy Medicine's emergency medicine and trauma care is a critical piece of the chief of naval operation's maritime strategy. Along with traditional roles like deployments and projecting power abroad, Stocks discussed how international partnerships and providing care through humanitarian assistance missions has further demonstrated how Navy Medicine's emergency medicine and research and development has made an impact on a global scale.

"UCLA plays an outstanding role in supporting the military's mission while providing high quality care to service members and their families," said Stocks. "We look forward to continuing the conversation with shared initiatives with UCLA in the future."

Operation Mend is a unique partnership between Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and the V.A.-Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and has been established to help treat U.S. military personnel severely wounded during service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For more than half a century, UCLA Health System has provided outstanding healthcare and the latest in medical technology to the people of Los Angeles and throughout the world. Comprised of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, and the UCLA Medical Group with its wide-reaching system of primary-care and specialty-care offices throughout the region, UCLA Health System is among the most comprehensive and advanced healthcare systems in the world.

Navy Medicine is a global healthcare network of 63,000 Navy medical personnel around the world who provide high quality health care to more than one million eligible beneficiaries. Navy Medicine personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.

Los Angeles Navy Week is one of 21 Navy Weeks across the country this year. Navy Weeks are designed to show Americans the investment they make in their Navy and increase awareness in cities that do not have a significant Navy presence.