Col. Irene Rosen is presented the 2016 Military Health System Female Physician Leadership Award (Senior Physician) by Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Karen Guice. (Photo courtesy of AMSUS)
By Jeff Troth
U.S. Army Medical Department Activity-Fort Carson Public Affairs Office
Two Evans Army Community Hospital health care practitioners were recognized for their career accomplishments during the AMSUS (The Society of Federal Health Professionals) annual meeting Dec. 1, 2016, at National Harbor near Washington, D.C.
Col. Irene Rosen was selected as the top senior female physician in the Military Health System (MHS) and presented the 2016 MHS Female Physician Leadership Award. Registered nurse Lydia Kreighbaum was recognized as the Junior Army category winner of the 2016 MHS Federal Civilian Nursing Excellence in Leadership Award.
“I was very honored to be nominated for this award, and the fact that I was selected was very unexpected and humbling,” said Rosen, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1987, and from 1995 to 1999 attended medical school at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. She currently serves as the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity-Fort Carson deputy commanding officer and chief medical officer.
Registered nurse Lydia Kreighbaum is presented the 2016 Military Health Service Federal Civilian Nursing Excellence in Leadership Award (Nursing Junior Army) by Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Karen Guice. . (Photo courtesy of AMSUS)
“It was an extreme honor, and I did not expect to win it at all,” said Kreighbaum, who has been a nurse for the Army for eight years, the past seven at the Evans Pain Clinic. “When I got the email stating that I had won I was speechless.”
Unlike most awards, these weren’t just for a single year or a single accomplishment. These awards recognize what individuals are currently doing to improve health care and what they have done in the past.
Rosen’s award nomination included her time at Fort Belvoir’s Family Medicine Residency program, where she taught and mentored many future family physicians. The packet also talked about her part in creating the Warrior Transition Care clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. It also mentioned her time as the deputy surgeon for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, where she worked in transferring authority of Kabul Role III hospital from French to U.S. authority.
“I couldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t done these jobs and many others,” Rosen said. “They all really build upon each other over the course of a career. I have been really lucky to have had a great progression of jobs that has gotten me to where I am now.”
Kreighbaum also credited her opportunities for earning her the award.
“Part of the submission was what I have done during my career as a nurse, both at work and in the community,” she said. “This included my time as a co-ambassador for the patient caring touch system and my participation on nurse practice councils.”
While at the Pain Clinic, Kreighbaum developed and directed an intensive out-patient program designed to improve function and quality of life by reducing opioid use. The program has had over 200 graduates who have decreased their utilization of opioids by more than 50 percent.
“This recognition by the Military Health System for Lydia and me is a credit to the great team we have at Evans,” said Rosen. “Because of our team, we are able to accomplish outstanding results for our patients.”