by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“The sun never sets on Navy medicine.”
That was how U.S. Navy Capt. Bruce Gillingham, commanding officer of Naval Hospital Jacksonville, described the mission of Navy doctors who are deployed around the world.
They provide health care to active duty military personnel and their families as well as treat retired personnel and take part in humanitarian missions, such as the relief effort for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Gillingham graduated from the University of California San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology. In 1982 he was commissioned as an ensign in the Naval Reserve and entered the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.
When he graduated in 1986, Gillingham was assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he served as a surgical intern. He also attended the Naval Undersea Medical Institute in Groton, Conn., and the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City.
Gillingham specializes in orthopedic surgery and was deployed in 2004 to Iraq, where he was the chief of professional services for the 1st Force Service Support Group and officer in charge of the Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon.
“One of our key missions is combat casualty care,” said Gillingham, who said that a Navy surgeon often is the first to care for a wounded soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan. He described what he did in Iraq as “damage control surgery.”
“We stopped the bleeding and decontaminated the wound and we had a 97 percent survival rate,” he said.
The hospital also sent dozens of doctors and other health-care providers to assist with aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Gillingham said 40 surgeons aboard a Navy Hospital ship operated on 800 patients and Naval Hospital Jacksonville sent most of the pharmaceutical supplies that were needed.
Gillingham assumed command of Naval Hospital Jacksonville in August 2008. The facility includes 60 beds and seven branch clinics. It employs more than 2,500 staff, including military personnel, civil service and civilian workers.
“At any given time, 15 percent of my staff is deployed all over the world,” said Gillingham. “They’re in Iraq and Afghanistan and Kuwait. They’re also in Africa and most of the 140 Navy doctors stationed at Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) are from Naval Hospital Jacksonville.”
Two months before Gillingham assumed command, a $38.5 million expansion project began at Naval Hospital Jacksonville. It’s scheduled for completion this year and will add several operating rooms and administrative offices. Gillingham said the staff logged 500,000 outpatients visits last year and more than 1,000 babies were born at the hospital.
The latest trend in military health care, he said, is promoting wellness programs to control obesity and help personnel stop smoking.
Before Gillingham made his remarks, club President Steve Bacalis called U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw to the podium for an update on events in Washington, D.C. Crenshaw said Mayport Naval Station will be the home port for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
“It’s finally final. There is money in the budget to begin the upgrades needed at Mayport,” said Crenshaw, who said having a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier based here is “important to the national security and it’s important to the local economy.”
He also commented on the health-care bill that was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. He voted against the legislation.
“Only in Washington would people say we’re going to spend a trillion dollars to save money and only in Washington does health-care reform mean fewer doctors and 16,500 new IRS agents. I think it will be awhile before people understand what health-care reform will mean. The biggest concern I have is the debt we’re accumulating,” Crenshaw said.
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