JaX Air NOWS, NAS Jacksonville, Thursday, January 12, 2006 5 Blackett retires after 36 years of public service By Sue Brink Public Affairs Officer N naval Facilities Engineering Command lost a dedicated civil servant and mentor to many employees when Navy Public Works Center Jacksonville's Business Manager Kenneth Blackett retired Jan. 3 after 36 years of federal serv- ice. Many employees and friends of Blackett attended a retirement lunch- eon on Dec. 15 to celebrate his out- standing career and reflect on his 36 years of service. Several employee's mimicked the time they have enjoyed working with Blackett by displaying their apprecia- tion through skits that were per- formed and gifts that were presented. Navy Public Works Center Com- manding Officer Capt. Paul Walden presented Blackett with the Depart- ment of the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award, a Presidential retire- Photo by Sue Brink Navy Public Works Center Jacksonville (PWC Jax) Commanding Officer Capt. Paul Walden (right) presents PWC Jax Business Manager Kenneth Blackett with the Department of the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award. Blackett retired Jan. 3 after 36 years of dedicated civil service. ment letter from President George W. tion-in-force letters, six promotions Bush and a retirement certificate rep- (he started as a GS-7), the eruption of resenting 36 years of service, a volcano (Mount Pinatubo) on his A keepsake box containing com- house, several typhoons, and earth- mand coins and memorabilia from all quakes in Japan, Philippines and of of the Public Works Center's Blackett course California, and most recently, has worked at during his career was hurricanes in Florida. also presented to him. "The most important part of this Blackett's first federal job was sol- journey has been the people I have diering duty with the U.S. Army as an worked and played with," said Infantryman, combat engineer, postal Blackett. clerk, and motor pool sergeant all in "The vast majority of the public, four short years. service employees I have had the The next 30 plus years brought a pleasure and honor to work with are dozen plus jobs, 11. moves from Utah hard working dedicated to what they to Germany, California, Philippines, do. This applies to all nations and back to California, Japan, and ending states." in Florida. He went on to say that people are Along the way, Blackett went the same regardless of languages, through three base realignment and customs, and norms that can create closures, two base closures, two reduc- barriers if you let them. Jax Air News earns award Photo by Nancy Garcia NAS Jacksonville Commissary Director Larry Bentley (center) and NAS lax Commanding Officer Capt. Chip Dobson present Jax Air News Editor Miriam S. Gallet with the. Defense Commissary Agency Outstanding Corporate Communications Program Support Award Dec. 15. Gallet and the Jax Air News staff.were recog- nized for their news coverage of commissary events, which "significantly helped inform and educate shop- pers about the benefits of commissary shopping and the services available to them." Naval Hospital to host Town Hall meeting By Marsha Childs Naval Hospital Jacksonville Marketing Naval Hospital Jack- sonville Command- ing Officer Capt. (Dr.) Raquel Bono, will be hosting a quarterly Town Hall Meeting on Jan. 18 from 2-3 p.m. in the hospi- tal's main conference room at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. This meeting is open to all active duty personnel, retirees and eli- gible family members. Bono and the hospital's top leadership have recent- ly completed a new strate- gic business plan that will better align its goals with the needs of military fami- lies. Bono will highlight the hospital's new goals at the upcoming Town Hall Meeting. She said, "We are very excited about the recent work we have done. Our new goals allow us to build on the many things we have already put into place such as patient-cen- tered care initiatives, sup- porting operational readi- ness, promoting sound business practices and staff development.". ByJ02 Rebecca Kruck More than 100 Navy and Marine Corps volunteers are needed to judge various events at the Sanctioned Area-12 NJROTC Drill Meet this Saturday. Drill events include armed basic, unarmed basic, unarmed exhibition, armed exhibition, color guard, individual drill and knockout drill. Athletic events include pushups/sit-ups, 1000-yard relay, 220-yard relay, klackerboard, dizzy izzy, tug of war and seabag. Six Corpsmen and three med- ical bags are also needed for the First Aid tent. For formal drill events, judges will need to wear winter working blues for Sailors and BDU's for Marines. I Bono is very proud of the efforts of her staff to improve the delivery of health care services at the hospital and branch health clinics. In July 2005, the hospital and its branch health clin- ics were surveyed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health- care Organizations (JCAHO) and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Inspector General. The hospital did extreme- ly well and received no for- mal recommendations for im-provement and very few supplemental suggestions. JCAHO focuses on improving the safety and quality of healthcare pro- vided to the public. It accomplishes this goal by accrediting healthcare or- ganizations and offering healthcare improvement services. Naval Hospital Jack- sonville hospital and branch health clinics were evaluated using the same JCAHO standards as US civilian hospitals. Bono is also excited about the work still to be done during the coming year. "We need our For athletic events, com- fortable civilian attire is fine. All judges will be pro- vided with breakfast, lunch and snacks. Letters of Appreciation will also be presented. Names of volunteers should be in the following format and must include the commanding officer's name and com- mand mailing address: AM2(AW/SW) John Sailor, SN/USNR, Capt. Joe Smith, Commanding Officer USS Underway or Sgt James A. Marine, USMC/USMCR, Col. Joe Smith, Comman-dant, 8th regiment. E-mail names to Master Chief John Duffy at duffyj@stjohns.kl2.fl.us. For more information, contact Master Chief Duffy at (904) 424-6472 or (904) 819-8362. patients to actively partici- pate in improving our health care delivery sys- tem. To ensure we are meeting their identified needs, I am inviting our patients to work with our hospital staff on some of our newly identified objec- tives," she said. For more information about how to volunteer, contact the customer rela- tions officer at 542-9457, or attend the meeting. FltUmembers.aal.com ______bellovincent 10573 Lakeview Rd E. 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