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Medical Group best in Air Force

  • Published
  • By Stephen Delgado
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  "And the winner is the 56th Medical Group clinic, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz."

Those words were heard by Col. Mark Holland, 56th MDG commander and Chief Master Sgt. Monica Hill, 56th MDG superintendant in front of nearly 400 people at a Military Healthcare Symposium in Washington held Jan. 24 to 27.

The 56th MDG clinic won the Air Force's Best Clinic for fiscal 2010, as well as the AETC clinic of the year. Luke competed against 58 Air Force clinics. The award was given to Colonel Holland and Chief Hill by Lt. Gen. Bruce Green, Air Force Surgeon General.

There was a plethora of obstacles that were successfully handled that led to this award, according to Colonel Holland.

"Our clinic was faced with numerous challenges such as a $24 million renovation project and the deployment of 96 individuals to support three humanitarian projects that accomplished 11,000 visits," he said. "We delivered 184,000 outpatient visits saving $12 million in private sector care."

Not only that, "We are affiliated with Scottsdale Health Care relating to trauma care, the Nurse Transition Program and modeling and simulation," Colonel Holland said. "Luke has one of two civilian Nurse Transition Programs in the Air Force. We assisted in the development of a $3.2 million simulation center at SHC that trains military members in the active, Guard and Reserve components. The 56th MDG also has a good partnership with the Veterans Administration."

It was a total team effort, according to Chief Hill.

"Dental productivity was up 18 percent, and we were number one or two in AETC for patient satisfaction and our clinic had zero mishaps," Chief Hill said.

The work of the clinic didn't stop at the end of the workday.

"Our staff donated 1,450 hours to several organizations in the area," Chief Hill said. "I was so thrilled when they won this award."

The 56th MDG isn't a stranger to winning awards because before winning this award, they won the AETC best clinic award the previous year.

"Chief Hill had a lot of confidence in our clinic," Colonel Holland said. "When we won our first AETC award, she predicted we'd win the best clinic for the Air Force the following year."

The 56th Medical Group has a staff of 540 people consisting of military, civilian and contract personnel.