Army Awards UA Nursing Professor Medal For Coordinating Health Care Services For Reservists Injured in Iraq

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Marietta Stanton, professor and graduate coordinator at The University of Alabama’s Capstone College of Nursing and an Army Reservist, was recently awarded a U.S. Army Meritorious Service Medal for helping Reservists injured in Iraq receive follow-up care close to their homes.

Stanton, who has served in the military for more than 25 years, was activated in the U.S. Army in March 2004 and deployed to Fort Gordon, Ga. She was one of four experienced professional nurses with the rank of Colonel mobilized by the Army Medical Department to serve as senior case managers in the nation’s regional medical commands. She returned to part-time status, and to Tuscaloosa, in April 2005.

“I am proud that at my young age of 56, the Army found a way for me to further serve my country and the wonderful soldiers who have performed so valiantly throughout the world,” said Stanton.

Stanton was mobilized for one year to assume a position at the Southeast Regional Medical Command as a senior case manager, clinical operations. Senior case managers’ specific focus is Reserve Component soldiers activated for duty in Iraq.

When these soldiers are injured on duty and return to the United States, they are treated at military hospitals. This often leaves soldiers a significant distance from their homes and family during their treatment.

Stanton was involved in implementing and evaluating a special option for Reservists, called Community Based Health Care Initiative, allowing them to receive follow up treatment within a 50-mile radius of their home. Soldiers requiring follow up treatment can be assigned a case manager at a Community Based Health Care Organization within their home state. The case manager then coordinates a network of contract, military and VA services to help the soldier return to health.

Stanton’s group set up four such health care organizations in Florida and case managed soldiers requiring follow up treatment.

The Community Based Health Care Organization does not provide direct care; it provides case management services. Other such organizations will be established in the Southeast region as returning reservists require community based care in other states. The region encompasses Kentucky, part of Tennessee and part of South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Stanton served as an adviser, consultant and educator to the nurses, social workers and other health care professionals who have been mobilized as case managers in these facilities. She also participates in the certification of each of these sites to provide case management services. All of the senior case managers have extensive experience in case, disease and outcomes management.

Stanton has returned to her UA duties, and in October, as a Reservist, she will be assigned as the Individual Mobilization Augmentee, or IMA, for the chief in the Department of Nursing Science, Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

“I believe that my experiences can only enhance the content I bring to case management students and help prepare students for the management and clinical leadership roles they will assume after completion of their advanced degrees,” said Stanton.

When called to duty, Stanton said it was difficult for her to the leave the University “because I truly love my job, the students, the faculty and administration at the Capstone College of Nursing. “We are a great team!

“However, this is a very important mission, and I am grateful for the full support provided by my colleagues and the graduate students at CCN even though they probably assumed a greater burden in terms of workload with my departure,” she said. “I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Please keep our soldiers in your thoughts and prayers. God bless them and our country,” said Stanton.