Photo By Douglas Stutz | Navy Nurse Corps personified…Lt. j.g. Hannah Phillips, staff nurse in Naval Hospital...... read more read more
For Lt. j.g. Hannah Phillips, managing the recognition for National Nurses Week and the Navy Nurse Corps birthday, along with her normal duties, simply exemplified her Nurse Corps calling.
Phillips guided the orchestration of National Nurses Week, May 6-10, 2024, at Naval Hospital Bremerton, which daily acknowledged the approximately 95 nurses assigned – including nearly 50 Nurse Corps officers - at the command. There was a lot of moving parts with juggling supplies, logistics and staff, but with that responsibility also came the realization that it was all just an extension of her Nurse Corps roots.
“It meant recognizing people who put so much of themselves into other people day in and day out. Honoring those who put themselves second and others first,” explained Phillips, a Temperance, Michigan native, Bedford Senior High School 2014 alumni and Concordia University Ann Arbor 2018 graduate.
“It’s a continued tradition that connects us to those who have served before us and those who will come after us. It’s acknowledging those who paved a way for us to have this opportunity and bettering this field and community for those who will step up when we are gone,” Phillips added.
National Nurse Week festivities included a potluck breakfast fare on Monday, catered Tuesday lunch, ice cream social on Wednesday and Daisy Dash 5K Fun Run/Walk on Thursday. Friday featured the traditional cake cutting ceremony to recognize the Navy Nurse Corps 116th birthday from their initial date May 13, 1908.
Phillips affirmed that the entire week reinforced the notion of how nurses give of themselves to help care for those in need. Even unintentionally, organizing a complementary event can mirror handling and treating a patient.
“Service before self,” stated Phillips. “Putting the patient and the work to be done before anything else that might be going on. It’s putting the needs and comfort of others before my own.
Phillips has been a staff nurse in NHB’s in Ambulatory Procedure Unit for 18 months. Along with the military treatment facility being her initial Navy command – having reported onboard November 2022 – she has also tabbed to deploy on hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) for part of Pacific Partnership 2023.
She helped provide medical care in the South Pacific on the Solomon Islands. She found herself on Guadalcanal, which is forever part of the Navy’s World War Two legacy and lexicon, remembered for the bitter fighting ashore and at sea against Imperial Japanese Army and Navy forces over 80 years ago.
Part of her supportive efforts were helping with the 2023 Pacific Games.
“There were others from England and Japan with us on USNS Mercy. I saw a triathlon, touch rugby and soccer matches,” related Phillips. “I went to two of the islands from the ship and also did some swimming.”
Her time spent there was memorable due to the diversity of medical experts she worked with.
“Getting to work with so many different people, working alongside team doctors, local doctors and athletes was a great experience,” said Phillips.
Her Solomon Island experience was one of the reasons she chose Navy Medicine.
“I wanted to help people and serve globally,” Phillips said, citing that the best part of her career has been those she’s worked with. “Doctors, corpsmen, techs, aides, and mostly the nurses.”
She also found time to take part in a 200-mile, 12-member, two-day run team relay on the back roads of the Pacific Northwest last summer. That event was such a fun challenge she’s decided to do it again. Yet this time she’s doing the organizing for her team.
Just like a Navy Nurse Corps officer, emblematic of 116 years featuring such support for others.
More service before self.
When asked to sum up her experience with Navy Medicine in one sentence, Phillips replied, “challenging but rewarding.”
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2024 17:55 |
| Story ID: | 471186 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WA, US |
| Web Views: | 278 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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