HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – The 66th Medical Squadron will host a Patient and Family Partnership Council meeting March 19 from 1 to 3 p.m. in building 1900 to receive feedback from patients.
Clinic officials created the council to give back to their patients with the intention of providing better service.
“The number one priority of the 66th Medical Squadron is to provide our patient population with the best possible care, treatment, and service,” said Maj. Clinton Borchardt, 66 MDS chief medical officer. “We welcome patients and beneficiaries to communicate concerns or frustrations to executive staff, so we can take action to improve the patient experience.”
The Hanscom AFB clinic serves over 300,000 eligible beneficiaries and provides medical services to over 4,700 active duty, reserve personnel, retirees, and eligible family members. They also serve geographically separated units across the six-state New England region including parts of New York.
Their specialty services include Mental Health, Air Force Drug and Alcohol Program, or ADAPT, Behavioral Health Optimization Program, Family Advocacy Program, Case Management, Disease Management, Population Health, Dental Clinic, Pharmacy Clinic, Optometry Clinic, Flight Medicine, Public Health, and Primary Care.
“Aside from all of the specialty services we offer, another thing that separates us from civilian practice is all of the readiness services we provide at no charge to service members: periodic health assessment, mental health assessment, deployment related health assessment, vaccinations, dental and lab work,” said Borchardt. “All service member readiness requirements can be completed here at the clinic.”
Borchardt strongly encourages people to participate in the Council meeting, and he also advocates each unit designate a representative to attend these quarterly meetings. For those who cannot attend in person, the meeting is also available via Microsoft Teams.
The squadron has implemented various avenues to advertise Patient and Family Partnership Council meetings. These include newcomer’s briefings, Medical Right Start briefings, social media posts (on both the 66th Medical Squadron and Hanscom Air Force Base Facebook pages), flyers, and the 66th Air Base Group’s email list.
Clinic officials want to ensure these announcements get to all eligible beneficiaries and encourage feedback on the best ways to reach individuals.
For questions or suggestions about this council, please contact the 66 MDS Patient Advocate Lucas Bracken at lucas.l.bracken.civ@health.mil.