DVIDS – News – Expeditionary Medical Facility Great Lakes holds decommissioning ceremony, establishes Navy Reserve, NMRTC Great Lakes

NORTH CHICAGO, IL. – Most recently they provided pandemic support in New York City, but prior to that, Navy Reservists assigned to Expeditionary Medical Facility (EMF) Great Lakes deployed all over the world for wide-ranging medical missions to include treating wounded warriors from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) at the Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany; Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa; Medical Readiness Training Exercises in Central America; and more than a decade of leading the multi-national Northern Lights/Global Medic annual exercises at Ft. McCoy, Wis.
When they gathered at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center Nov. 4; however, the day’s mission in North Chicago, Ill. was simultaneously somber and hopeful. EMF Great Lakes leaders – present and former – and sailors were in the audience for the unit’s decommissioning ceremony, 26 years after it started as Naval Reserve Hospital Unit Great Lakes.
“As each of us transitions to our new commands, know that you take the storied legacy of EMF Great Lakes with you,” said EMF Great Lakes Commanding Officer Capt. Amada Avalos during her remarks. “You should be proud of your service with EMF Great Lakes and the contributions you made to our Navy and our nation.”
Guest Speaker Rear Adm. Eric Peterson, deputy director, Medical Forces Atlantic, presided over the ceremony. He said the decommissioning is the result of Navy Medicine’s ongoing “evolution in what we do and how we focus our resources. We must always maintain a forward presence and prioritize the care of the warfighter.”
Approximately 500 billets of the former EMF Great Lakes are now assigned to the United States Naval Ship (USNS) Comfort and USNS Mercy, hospital ships that provide afloat acute and emergency medical care for U.S. humanitarian and other missions around the world.
About 120 former EMF Great Lakes sailors, led by Avalos, now have the mission of augmenting Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command (NMRTC) Great Lakes, located at Lovell FHCC. The number of billets for the new NMRTC Great Lakes Reserve unit is 145 but could be increased if needed, according to Avalos.
The Reservists are highly skilled medical professionals in their civilian careers, Avalos said in an interview prior to the ceremony, including but not limited to ER, OR, ICU, acute care and other nurses; specialty doctors and surgeons; clinical psychiatrists; optometrists; dentists; pharmacists; physician assistants; and surgical and laboratory technicians.
On their drill weekends and during annual training, the Reservists will work with NMRTC Great Lakes personnel at Lovell FHCC’s main hospital and at its Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL) branch clinics – one on base and three at Recruit Training Command.
“We will train to be ready on ‘Day 1’ to augment NMRTC Great Lakes,” Avalos said, in the event of a large combat deployment of NMRTC Great Lakes sailors.
Peterson, who also is the director of the Navy Reserve Nurse Corps, said in an interview, “It’s about being able to increase capability to receive casualties from the combat theater(s) and taking care of the warfighters on the back end.”
In wartime, the Reservists would help meet an increased need to provide medical care for recovering and convalescing service members back in the United States.
During the Nov. 4 ceremony, Avalos read the official disestablishment order and announced the establishment of Navy Reserve, NMRTC Great Lakes. She went on to accept the unit’s guidon, or flag, which she then presented to Peterson for historical preservation.
Vice Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Reserve Policy and Integration, Rear Adm. Pamela Miller, couldn’t be at the ceremony but provided a statement that read, in part: “I am very proud of the leadership team and the entire command of EMF Great Lakes as they have continued to press on with training, readiness, and providing support to numerous mission requirements during this challenging time of transition.
“The future is very bright, and this is an exciting time for Navy Reserve Medicine,” Miller said. “RC (Reserve Component) NMRTC Great Lakes will play an important part in our future missions. I am extremely proud of the professionalism, can-do attitude, and accomplishments of this team.”