At Yokosuka hospital, patients wait longer for care as staffers leave to fulfill military duties

[unhappycamper]

At Yokosuka hospital, patients wait longer for care as staffers leave to fulfill military duties
By Allison Batdorff, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, June 17, 2007

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Sixteen medical personnel from here reported aboard the USNS Mercy this spring. Another 20 to 30 leave this summer for the Expeditionary Medical Facility in Kuwait. Others pull duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and places far from their normal duty stations at U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka.

This means patients need an extra dose of patience as Yokosuka’s hospital faces summer staffing shortages, hospital officials say.

It may take up to two weeks to get an appointment, but the hospital is working to "balance" patient-centered care with the Navy’s requirements for the global war on terrorism, Cmdr. Karen Kasowski said last week.

"Every summer is hard, but we have a larger requirement this summer," said Kasowski, the hospital’s director of health care business, about sailors deploying as individual augmentees. "We’re losing a steady stream of people."

Currently down 50 staffers, the hospital will lose up to 72 people this summer, Kasowski said. Fully staffed, Yokosuka’s hospital has 800 people — 1,200 counting staff from the hospital’s six branch clinics at Negishi Housing Area, Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Sasebo Naval Base, Chinhae Naval Base in South Korea and Diego Garcia.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55590