Andrew Rader U.S. Army Health Clinic welcomes new commander

By Rachel Everett, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Public AffairsJune 27, 2022

Outgoing Andrew Rader U.S. Army Health Clinic commander Lt. Col. Jessica Milloy relinquishes command to Col. Tracy Michael, commander of the Fort George G. Meade Medical Department Activity, June 16.
Outgoing Andrew Rader U.S. Army Health Clinic commander Lt. Col. Jessica Milloy relinquishes command to Col. Tracy Michael, commander of the Fort George G. Meade Medical Department Activity, June 16. (Photo Credit: Rachel Everett) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va., -- Andrew Rader U.S. Army Health Clinic held a change of command ceremony June 16 at Brucker Hall as Lt. Col. (P) Jessica Milloy relinquished command to Lt. Col. Elizabeth DeSitter. Col. Tracy Michael, commander of the Fort George G. Meade Medical Department Activity, presided over the ceremony and thanked the guests in attendance.

Following the relinquishment of command, Michael commended Milloy for having served during what he considered to be one of the most challenging and unsettling times in our nation’s history. Throughout his remarks, Michael applauded Milloy for her approach in sustaining individual and unit medical readiness in a COVID-19 constrained environment.

“In response to the global pandemic, Lt. Col. Milloy demonstrated exceptional leadership skills by adaptively implementing COVID-19 screening and testing protocols, administering over 10,000 COVID-19 vaccines and realigning the delivery of health services to protect the mission and protect the force,” Michael said. “Her innovative approach to sustaining individual and unit medical readiness, in a COVID-19 constrained environment, allowed her to rapidly expand telehealth capability to reduce a backlog of over 300 annual periodic health assessments by leveraging the Virtual Integrated Patient Readiness and Remote Care Clinic, improving hearing exam access with wireless hearing test technology that increased hearing readiness by 95%, and improving access to care by pivoting to virtual appointments.”

During her two-year tenure, Milloy synchronized the medical effort across the joint base through strategic communication and engagement in routine senior commander update briefs, the commander’s ready and resilient council, garrison town halls, community health promotion councils, monthly/quarterly medical readiness rodeos and direct engagements. She will now be attending the Senior Service College at the National Defense University on the McNair side of the joint base.

“With the loss of one great leader, an organization can only hope to receive a comparable replacement,” Michael said. “The strength in our Army is that we don’t hire adaptive leaders of character; we grow them, and therefore we are able to hand off this command to another dedicated and capable leader – Lt. Col. Betsey DeSitter.”

Incoming commander DeSitter comes to America’s Post with a long list of assignments and experience. The Lisle, Illinois native served as the deputy chief of clinical operations at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, medical operations chief of the 62nd Medical Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McCord, Washington, and most recently as a sustainment planner for the Joint Staff, Joint Exercise Division in Norfolk.

“Betsy, you’ve clearly demonstrated that you possess the leadership, ability and character to face and embrace the unique opportunity to lead in this environment,” Michael said. “I charge you to take good care of these Soldiers, civilians, and their families.”

In closing, Michael acclaimed the Andrew Rader U.S. Army Health Clinic as one of the Army’s premier health clinics, emphasizing the “exceptional health service support by healthcare providers to sustain the readiness of the mission partners on the joint base.”

“There is no calling more honorable than to be a healthcare professional in the military, ensuring Soldiers are ready to answer the call of duty,” he said.

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