When you have a military system, you also need a medical system to offset any and all injuries. The United States Army can take great pride in having one of the most efficient medical systems in the world.
The medical system of the U.S. Army is completely managed by MEDCOM. This is the U.S. Army Medical Command.
MEDCOM is one of the newer major Army commands. While the Army has always had a medical system, it seems that instituting the MEDCOM system has created a much more efficient system.
In today’s post, I am going to share 10 cool facts about the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM). Scroll down and learn more, and if you have any added facts, please share them in the comments area at the end of this post.
1: History
MEDCOM became a reality in 1993. In 1992, The U.S. Army Health Services Command changed the system it used completely. They used more of a corporate system which seemed to work great.In 1993, the U.S. Army approved a plan to reorganize AMEDD, and MEDCOM began replacing the Army Health Care Services and taking on the responsibilities of all other Army health care programs.
It was decided that the Surgeon General would be the Commander of MEDCOM. At this point, almost anything related to Army medical is under the MEDCOM umbrella.
2: On Facebook
MEDCOM is on Facebook. You can follow their posts here.
3: Commander
As I stated earlier, the Commander of MEDCOM is also the U.S. Army Surgeon General. The current Commander of MEDCOM is Lieutenant General Nadja West. Upon becoming a Lieutenant General, Nadja was the first black woman to hold that rank, the Army’s highest ranking woman to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy and the Army’s first black Surgeon General.
4: On Twitter
MEDCOM also has a Twitter profile. You can receive all the MEDCOM tweets here.
5: MEDCOM Headquarters
The headquarters for the U.S. Army Medical Command is in San Antonio, Texas at Fort Sam Houston. Fort Sam Houston is known as the “Home of Army Medicine.
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6: On Pinterest
You can find MEDCOM on the social site called Pinterest. View their postings by visiting here.
7: Subordinate Commands
When it comes to anything medical in the United States Army, the primary command will be MEDCOM. There are a large list of subordinate commands. They include:
Regional Health Command Europe: Commander Brigadier General Dennis LeMaster.
Regional Health Command Central: Commander Major General Thomas Temple Jr.
and, Regional Health Command Atlantic: Commander Brigadier General Ronald Place.
Regional Health Command Pacific: Commander Brigadier General Bertram Providence.
Army Medical Department Center and School: Commander Major General Stephen Jones.
U.S. Army Public Health Center: Director John Resta.
U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command: Commander Major General Brian Lein.
Warrior Transition Command: Commander Colonel Chris Toner.
U.S. Army Dental Command: Commander Colonel Don Grimes.
8: MEDCOM On Flickr
You can also view the latest on MEDCOM at their Flickr page. Just visit this link.
9: Various Links Via The Army Medicine Corps
The Army medical system is huge. MEDCOM handles medicine for officers and soldiers, their families and pets, veterans and many more. They also are researching various medical issues in the world. One they are studying right now is the mosquito borne Zika virus. Hopefully, they can find something to defeat this bad disease spread by mosquitoes.
These links will lead you to various Army medical systems.
Veterinary Corps
Dental Corps
Medical Specialist Corps
Enlisted Corps
Medical Service Corps
Medical Corps
Also, there are various assistance programs. You can follow the following links for assistance:
Family Readiness Programs
Military One Source
10: MEDCOM On YouTube
MEDCOM also has various videos available on YouTube. You can subscribe and watch the various videos by following this link.
Final Thoughts
Just like any medical system in the United States, MEDCOM must abide by all the same rules any civilian hospital or doctor would have to. They follow the Freedom of Information Act as well as the Privacy Act. You can find more information on that here.
The Mission of MEDCOM states: To provide responsive and reliable health services and influences Health to improve readiness, save lives and advance wellness in support of the Force, Military Families and all those entrusted to their care.
Here are some amazing statistics in a day’s time of Army Medical:
Over 54,000 outpatient visits.
Over 250 patients admitted in hospitals.
24,000+ dental procedures.
Over 9,000 immunizations.
Over 70 births
57,000+ pharmacy prescriptions.
Over 84,000 lab procedures.
Over 400 food safety visits.
$23,000,000+ worth of food inspected.
What are your thoughts on MEDCOM? Do you believe the Army is running an efficient medical system, or do you think it needs more improvements? What improvements could MEDCOM make to better serve Army personnel and their families?
We would also like to hear from any Army personnel who are under the MEDCOM command. Please tell us more about the United States Medical Command system.
I also want to let you know that the Army Medical Command is always looking for qualified people to fill a large range of positions in the Army medical fields.
Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
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