What makes Navy medicine great are the people.
Above and beyond the outstanding training that you get
as a physician and the care that you're able to provide
to Sailors, Marines, and their families, being part of
something bigger than yourself and of service to our country,
it really comes down to the people you work with every day.
And there's not a greater team on this earth, in my opinion,
than the United States Navy.
I'm Lieutenant Commander Andy Baldwin
and I'm a U.S. Navy physician.
Navy hospital is like any other hospital.
We have all the specialties from surgery, pediatrics,
OB/GYN, dentistry, optometry, even podiatry.
There's one difference between a Navy hospital and a regular hospital,
and that's pride and honor that we have serving
our Sailors and Marines every day.
When I talk about the experiences I've had in Navy medicine
with a civilian physician, what I get a lot of the time is,
"Wait, you get paid to do that? Where do I sign up?"
There's a lot of red tape in civilian practice.
There's a lot of bureaucracy. If you look at malpractice costs,
insurance claims, and then you look at the benefits that you get
just being part of Navy medicine and how it's a streamlined system.
And what I get from my civilian physician friends is,
"I didn't know that there were those opportunities in
Navy medicine. I'm glad that you told me."
One mission that really changed my life was in 2006 when
I had the opportunity to go to the country of Laos as the team physician.
You know what I saw? Something I've never seen before,
which was children that came running from miles around.
That was raw medicine and just by giving them simple medications
that we take for granted here in the United States I was able
to make their quality of life incredibly better.
And it's that joy and those smiles and that purity of medical care
that I've come to love, something you can do as a Navy doctor.
Sometimes those days were long and hot and 120 degree heat and
there are insects flying around and it was patient after
patient after patient, and you look around at the team working
together, that is Navy medicine. You go to sleep at night saying,
"I'm doing good work here on this earth. I'm part of a mission
that's greater than myself. I'm making the world a better place."
There's opportunity in Navy medicine for anyone, whether
you're young, middle aged, old. Whether you're a student wanting
to become a doctor or already are a doctor.
There's some physicians that
in their forties or fifties and are
just sick of the same old grind. And they say,
"Hey, I want to get out there and be working in the field
in the Third-World countries being part of humanitarian
missions." Or, "I want to be taking care of the Sailors
and Marines that are over there fighting for our freedom."
There's opportunities for you in Navy medicine as well.
So an interesting story happened a few weeks ago.
I was talking with one of my friends, and this guy's brother
is an esteemed cardiologist at Harvard, he's fifty, and decided
that he wanted to join the Navy. I sent him an email.
I said, "Hey, welcome to the team. Great to have you onboard, Sir."
I mean, this is one of the leaders in cardiology in the world.
And just like he was a kid again, he said, "Hey, hoo yah. Hoo yah, Doc.
Hoo yah, Sir. I'm on the team." And it's that kind of energy
coming from this man who is revered by physicians and cardiologists
worldwide coming onto part of the Navy medical team,
wanting to be part of something different; wanting to get out
there in the world and, and make a difference and making it
through our Officer Development School, which really made me smile.
In Navy medicine, you learn so much more than being just a doctor.
You learn to be a leader. You get to see the world and learn about
other cultures. Where you're a doctor out in the field,
you're seasoned and it shows. There's not an employer around
the world that's not going to look at that and give you the
nod because you served in the Navy as a Navy physician.
In current economic times, it pays to have a stable job
and a stable paycheck. A lot of us also have incredible
amount of debt from our education. And
Navy medicine provides a means to alleviate that in the
form of Loan Repayment Programs, sign-on bonuses.
When you join the Navy, rest assured the Navy is going to
take care of you. And that goes for any continuing medical
education, specialty training, any perks that you need
to go along and make you the best physician possible,
the Navy, you better believe, is going to make sure
you get that training.
I want to set the record straight.
People think that if you join the Navy, that you're not
able to pursue your hobbies and your lifestyle as
you would like to. And that's absolutely not the case.
Joining the Navy actually enables you and enhances your
ability to pursue your hobbies; to pursue your dreams.
I love to do triathlon and I race numerous races every year.
I work with the Special Olympics and work with the
Surgeon General on health promotion. I also like to
spend time with my family and friends and these are
all things that I'm able to do as part of the Navy.
So I'm busting that myth right now. If you want to have a life,
you can have it as part of the Navy.