New Womack Military Medical Heart commander on healthcare at Bragg – The Fayetteville Observer

For the previous two months, Col. David Zinnante has acclimated to his new place serving to to supervise the healthcare of 1000’s of service members, veterans and their members of the family on the Military’s most populated set up.  

Zinnante assumed command of Womack Army Medical Center on July 6.  

Initially from Texas, Zinnante got here from a pharmacist household and gravitated towards the medical discipline.  

Fort Bragg, he mentioned, was one in all his early assignments the place he spent his lieutenant and captain years with the 82nd Airborne Division.  

“I’m hopeful that I pays again a few of the service to the group that served me so properly whereas I used to be right here,” Zinnante mentioned Monday. “To return again to among the finest communities — I imply what an honor.”  

Pandemic and viruses  

Whereas the state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic has lifted,Zinnante mentioned that doesn’t imply the virus has gone away.  

Nonetheless, he mentioned, instances at Fort Bragg are milder due to “the excessive share of the inhabitants who’re vaccinated.”  

“For these which are being hospitalized, it’s usually as a result of they produce other comorbidity bringing them right here,” he mentioned. “In all probability 90% of the instances that we’re getting, the constructive instances that we’re getting, it’s as a result of we’re testing them for another form of process that we’re doing right here. Persons are actually presenting now with delicate signs or don’t even know they’ve it in any respect.”  

Decline in instances:Fort Bragg sees decline in COVID-19 cases

Although there have been confirmed instances of the monkeypox virus in Cumberland and Harnett counties, Zinnante mentioned Womack suppliers are outfitted to deal with the virus and that almost all sufferers can get better from the rash or fever at house.  

A priority, he mentioned, is flu season. The previous few years, Zinnante mentioned, instances could have appeared decrease as a result of extra individuals have been carrying masks.  

He mentioned he expects flu vaccines to reach at Fort Bragg by the start of subsequent work subsequent week however really helpful that if the local people can discover flu vaccines sooner elsewhere, now’s the time to be forward of the flu virus.  

New medical file system  

Previous to Zinnante’s arrival at Fort Bragg, Womack Military Medical Heart began shifting to an digital medical file system generally known as Army Well being System Genesis.  

“The true delay is when a person comes for his or her first go to beneath MHS Genesis the suppliers are actually taking data from the legacy system and having to drag it over into the brand new system, and that takes time,” he mentioned. “In order that’s making all of the appointments final a little bit bit longer.”  

Zinnante mentioned suppliers accounted for the transition, that means that they’re seeing about 5 fewer sufferers a day.  By the second or third go to after the data are put into the brand new system, he mentioned, affected person visits must be faster.  

The system, Zinnante mentioned, is designed to be a central system for data with the objective that it’ll ultimately hyperlink into the Division of Veterans Affairs system to expedite processes like incapacity scores for troopers who’re retiring.  

Earlier protection:Womack Army Medical Center to update medical record system: What that means for Fort Bragg

Zinnante mentioned the brand new system is just a part of the rationale why sufferers would possibly see delays in scheduling appointments.  

“I believe the larger downside is the hiring,” he mentioned. “We’re actually short-staffed and doing our greatest to fulfill the calls for of the group primarily based on a employees that’s been via covid for the previous few years and is working actually exhausting to maintain up with the demand right here on Fort Bragg.”  

Zinnante mentioned medical supplier shortages are usually not unique to Fort Bragg, because the nation and local community grapples with discovering well being care suppliers, nurses and directors.  

Regardless of delays, he mentioned, some sufferers are discovering that they’ll guide appointments sooner at Womack than they’ll in the local people. 

The hospital can be embracing telehealth for behavioral well being or lower-acuity instances and is within the means of working with Fort Sam Houston in Texas, which he mentioned is the “Military’s telehealth middle.”  

“We’re taking a look at creating that proper now, and so we anticipate having that functionality within the subsequent three months if not sooner,” Zinnante mentioned. “The largest factor is discovering a supplier devoted to Fort Bragg, even when they’re not situated right here.”  

Zinnante mentioned directors are additionally working to shift sources to concentrate on the army medical middle’s name middle.  

Partnerships 

Zinnante mentioned Womack continues to keep up relationships with the VA, Cape Concern Valley Well being and the College of North Carolina Well being.  

A few of the suppliers at Womack are additionally suppliers at Cape Concern, and Womack surgeons are able to offering surgical procedures for the VA.  

He mentioned a dialysis unit is being in-built partnership with the VA to “tackle the scarcity of dialysis locally.”  

“And it’s to assist us get to a stage II trauma middle, and it additionally helps with our graduate-level medical training and permitting them to get a little bit larger acuity of the complexity of affected person care,” Zinnante mentioned.  

Whereas Zinnante mentioned Womack’s researchers are engaged in 50 research that embrace decreasing decrease again ache, hazing prevention or carrying sensors to foretell and stop harm, Womack Military Medical Heart can be engaged in a pilot program to deal with trauma sufferers in the local people.  

If a non-Division of Protection beneficiary is injured near Fort Bragg’s gates, he mentioned, the affected person may very well be dropped at Womack if it’s the closest trauma middle.  

He mentioned he expects this system to proceed for a few years earlier than senior leaders weigh the professionals and cons to find out if it’s a profit to the group and post-graduate medical residency college students or seasoned surgeons.  

“Total, now we have a devoted workforce right here, and that’s what makes me so proud to be a part of it,” Zinnante mentioned.  

Workers author Rachael Riley may be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3528.