OKINAWA, Japan –
Cmdr. Stacie Milavec, head of the laboratory department at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan, and Chief Petty Officer Jane Nonthaveth, the laboratory department’s leading chief petty officer, hoped at least one of the three, first tour corpsmen they nominated under the Navy’s Meritorious Advancement Program, or MAP, would be selected for advancement.
Instead of just one, all three Sailors – each of them a Medical Education and Training Campus, or METC, at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, graduate – were selected for the honor.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Johnny Le, a June 2014 graduate from the METC Medical Laboratory Technician program and Petty Officer 3rd Class Candice Smith, a December 2015 graduate from the same program, along with Petty Officer 3rd Class Royal Miller, a September 2015 graduate from the METC Histology Technician program, were meritoriously promoted on June 30, 2017.
“I am proud to say all three Sailors nominated were meritoriously promoted due to their professionalism and the impressive accomplishments they have achieved while at this command,” announced Milavec.
Having reported to USNH Okinawa as junior Sailors directly from their advanced training, or “C” school, their achievements are even more impressive.
As a newly minted junior laboratory technician, Le took over the demanding role of Point of Care Testing, or POCT, coordinator from a more senior petty officer. POCT is lab testing that is performed outside the clinical laboratory where the patient is receiving care. The program requires command involvement with external clinics and direct interaction with nurses.
Although he still had laboratory duties, Le was able to update standard operating procedures, revise the audit checklist, standardize all POCT notebooks throughout the sites, and customize clinic worksheets by tailoring the forms to the specific needs of the clinic.
Being a lab tech is gratifying, said Le, because “I enjoy knowing I do not need to be by a patient’s side in order to help them. Knowing the tests I perform and the results I report out to providers so that they can treat the patient makes my job rewarding.”
Smith took on a very large task as well in addition to her regular lab duties. She is responsible for updating and maintaining department training records, a difficult feat considering all of the competency assessments in addition to command-directed training requirements to document.
In addition, she jumped at the opportunity to make a difference by becoming the Facebook administrator for Okinawa’s first Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions, or CSADD, chapter, and directly participated in the command’s “Not a Drop” campaign aimed at preventing driving under the influence and alcohol related incidents. The CSADD team’s efforts contributed to the command achieving 180 days free of DUIs and ARIs.
Smith feels that METC established a good foundation for her personal and professional growth.
“They taught me the basic laboratory knowledge and skills that were essential to me for joining the team at USNH Okinawa,” Smith said. “This foundation has helped to prepare me to become a confident laboratory technician.”
After reporting to the hospital, Miller took the initiative to increase his practical experience. He participated in autopsies and volunteered to cross train in the laboratory’s phlebotomy section so he could assist the other lab technicians with this duty.
According to Milavec, Miller receives more accolades than any other person in the phlebotomy lab due to his infectious personality and talent for finding even the most difficult veins. Miller also serves in the command’s CSADD chapter; he designed the logo, creates all event posters and wrote multiple articles on behalf of the organization. He wrote the script for the “Not a Drop” campaign which was adopted by Commander, Naval Forces Japan.
Miller is also a trained Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt and led a charter project to reduce defects created during the biopsy slide creation process. His project was highly successful, effectively reducing the percentage of slides with defects from 25 percent to zero.
Miller credits METC for providing a strong foundation for the success he has had in his career so far.
“Not only have I been able to pass on new and useful techniques that I learned in school, but I also can attribute much of my drive and urge to learn more to the rigorous, but effective training I received while at METC.”
Eighty percent of Milavec’s enlisted laboratory staff are on their first tour as advanced laboratory and histology technicians. Sixty-five percent of the lab techs reported with their MLT certifications and the histology technicians reported with their HT certifications.
“What this tells me,” Milavec explained, “is that these Sailors are getting a quality education and they can effectively articulate their knowledge base through taking and passing a standardized board of registry exam. It has assured me that the Sailors selected to perform some of these challenging roles were up to the challenge, had the know-how to succeed, and they understood that they had the support structure in place to do their job effectively.
“This is a testament to the exceptional program METC leads paired with positive mentorship from the deckplate and support from the chain of command.”