Surgeon General Affirms Health Readiness at ANC Award Event

By Mike O"Toole, Army MedicineApril 14, 2015

Fort Belvoir, Va. -- At the Army Nurse Corps' Colonel CJ Reddy Award of Excellence Dinner here on April 1st, Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho asked her audience: "If I asked you what our core business is, what would you say?"

The Surgeon General of the Army and USAMEDCOM commander said she hoped the response would be health readiness because "Army Medicine is more than health care delivery. Our mission of maintaining a Ready and Deployable Force requires Health Readiness."

Horoho's remarks came at an event that recognizes junior officers in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) who have made significant contributions throughout a sustained period of excellent performance. The award recipient for 2015 is Capt. Anthony M. Sabatini.

The award is named for a 30-year veteran who notably mentored many who later assumed leadership positions in the ANC. Col. Reddy was also the first male nurse to hold key leadership positions at several major Army Medical Treatment Facilities.

In keeping with event's theme of celebrating traditions, cultivating leaders and creating transformation, Horoho pointed out that "our AMEDD continues to transform into a System for Health focused on maintaining and improving health, on improving health literacy and maintaining the Health Readiness of our Army Family."

Nurses play a key role in this transformation, the Surgeon General added, because they, "more than any other member of the health readiness team … see people at their most vulnerable. You stand at the frontlines of patient care. Your patients depend on and trust you to be advocates for their well-being and safety across the continuum of health."