Skip to main content

Military Health System

Clear Your Browser Cache

This website has recently undergone changes. Users finding unexpected concerns may care to clear their browser's cache to ensure a seamless experience.

Eielson nurse says technology, readiness integral to military nursing

Image of Military health personnel checking the ears of a patient. Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis, a clinical nurse at Eielson Medical Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, checks on Air Force Staff Sgt. Ibrahim Kumenda. Schoneweis says “the cool thing about this clinic – with it being so small, we see a little bit of everything, from newborn babies to retirees.” (Photo by: Courtesy Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis).

Air Force nurses serve in diverse positions at military medical treatment facilities throughout the country and around the world. They could be stationed anywhere from a large, multi-service hospital like Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, or at a small family clinic like Eielson Medical Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

As a family health clinic nurse, Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis, a clinical nurse at Eielson, part of the 354th Healthcare Operations Squadron, explained how most of her focus is on dependents and retirees, but she also functions as a pediatric nurse due to the clinic's small size.

"My main focus is on the family health side, family members of active-duty and a lot of kids," said Schoneweis. "But with our clinic being so small, we help each other out often. So, I do see a good number of active-duty patients as well."

She added that being at an installation like Eielson allows her to see a wider array of patients than she might see at a larger facility, and that it's a good place to learn.

"That's kind of the cool thing about this clinic – with it being so small, we see a little bit of everything, from newborn babies to retirees," said Schoneweis. "It's good place to be for a newer nurse like me."

Schoneweis' only other duty station was Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where she worked in the inpatient medical/surgical unit for two years.

"This is a whole different realm in every aspect – moving from Las Vegas to Fairbanks, Alaska, my job, the environment. Everything here is completely different," she said.

In general, nursing provides the opportunity to branch out into areas that you may not have considered upon embarking on a career in medicine, she noted.

"Being a nurse, you can do so much in so many different positions, especially in the military because you're constantly moving," said Schoneweis. "It's been a great experience for me so far."

She compares her current position and her last one is to a civilian nurse going from working at a large hospital to a small family practice.

"I would think we do things pretty much the same, except that we're dealing with the military and dependents," she said.

The difference, she noted, is that service members, both patients and providers, are constantly moving, but that MHS GENESIS, the Military Health System's new, electronic health record, has helped immensely with the tracking of patients' medical histories.

"It's kind of a constant battle and one of the challenges we face in military health care. You don't have a set primary care provider. You have a provider for maybe three or four years and then start over somewhere else," said Schoneweis. "That's why we're so thankful for MHS GENESIS. It helps us keep much better track of our patients' medical history, past bases they've been at and gives us the ability to see their up-to-date health records."

Military health personnel wearing a face mask checking the blood pressure of a patient Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis (right) checks the blood pressure of Air Force Senior Airman Neil Cariaga. Before working at Eielson Medical Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, Schoneweis, a clinical nurse, was at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for two years (Photo by: Courtesy Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis).

"It's been a huge help," she said. "It's fairly new to us. We just went through the transition in October, but so far, we're really liking the benefits."

Although it's still early in her career, Schoneweis said she's already been exposed to the benefits of working partnerships between departments and service branches, including sharing patients and specialty care with Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals when she was at Nellis, and now with Bassett Army Community Hospital at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska.

"They're a decent sized full-service hospital, so we end up interacting with them quite a bit," she said of Bassett "We use them as much as we can for hospitalizations as well as obstetrics care. We take care of our pregnant patients up until about 34 weeks and then we transition care over to Bassett because that's where they're going to end up giving birth."

She said the ability to care for their patients up to a certain point provides base residents the ease and convenience of being able to visit the clinic on base, where most of them live, and forego the 30-minute drive between Eielson and Wainwright until the final part of their pregnancy.

"It's good to have that connection and shared responsibility with the Army," she said.

Conversely, she said, a patient from Eielson who requires emergency room care would first go to Bassett and then be seen for any follow-up appointments back at Eielson.

"(MHS) GENESIS has helped immensely in this regard too because we can almost immediately see all of their emergency room records and we're not guessing what was done or constantly requesting records," said Schoneweis.

As with any service member, part of her work also entails maintaining readiness to be deployed. She said this has been accelerated by the arrival of F-35A Lightning IIs from the 356th Fighter Squadron to Eielson, which began arriving earlier this year. Schoneweis' husband is an F-35 pilot.

"The F-35s coming here turned Eielson into an operational base and our wing commander has been huge on readiness, not just for F-35 pilots, but the entire base," "We're always getting ready to go, when we need to go," said Schoneweis. "They've put the mindset on every squadron, including medical."

This includes a unique set of requirements for the clinic.

"For medical, that means making sure our airmen are always ready to deploy, staying up on immunizations, dental – making sure our personnel are good to go," she said.

A more operational mindset, she said, was facilitated not only by the arrival of the F-35 squadrons, but also by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think the pandemic kind of sparked that, probably for a lot of bases and people across the country, and we realized that maybe we weren't as prepared as we thought we were for something like this," said Schoneweis. "Now we know we need to be ready for anything that could happen."

In her eyes, constant training for real-life scenarios is the only way to prepare.

"Up here in interior Alaska, we're pretty isolated. We need to be able to take care of as many patients as we can to the greatest degree we can," she said. "COVID showed us that we can't wait for something to happen before we start training for it. If I'm getting deployed, I need to be flexible, ready and well-trained."

You also may be interested in...

Article Around MHS
May 12, 2023

National Nurses Week - Cmdr. Mojica Feature Story

Cmdr. Mojica poses with an Indonesian teacher and school children during a visit to SD 83 Elementary as a part of Pacific Partnership 2018 (PP18), Apr. 5, 2018. PP18’s mission is to work collectively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase stability and security in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships across the Indo-Pacific Region. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo)

The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) kicks off National Nurses Week, by honoring all nurses who have served or are currently serving across the DOD. National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale's birthday.

Article Around MHS
May 12, 2023

Military Nurses Provide Professional Insight to Students

Nursing professionals from the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein Air Base, and the 30th Medical Brigade recently joined forces to participate in a Health and Human Service Academy Career Fair at Ramstein High School, aiming to educate students about the rewarding career of nursing and the diverse opportunities it presents.  (Photo By John Ciccarelli)

Nurses from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC), the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron (86th AES), 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein Air Base, and the 30th Medical Brigade (30th MED BDE) participated in a Health and Human Service Academy Career Fair at Ramstein High School to educate students about nursing and the career opportunities it offers, May 4.

Article Around MHS
May 10, 2023

Recognizing Excellence: Four Walter Reed Nurses Honored with DAISY Award

U.S. Navy Capt. Jessica Beard, chief nursing officer presents (L-R) U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Rose Flanagan, U.S. Navy Ensign Angela Spath, and U.S. Army 1st Lt. Amber Huddleston the DAISY Award during Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Director's Town Hall. (Photo: Harvey Duze)

The Walter Reed national Military Medical Center honored four of its own with the prestigious DAISY Award during the Director's Town Hall. The Daisy Award is a national recognition program that celebrates the extraordinary work of nurses, physicians, and health care staff members.

Article Around MHS
May 10, 2023

Advances in Prostheses Focus of Medical Museum’s Science Cafe

Jamie Boehm, a certified orthotist prosthetist at Walter Reed, shows a current-day prosthetic during the Science Café's program focused on the Department of Defense (DOD) Limb Trauma Care at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. (Photo: Bernard Little)

Staff from Walter Reed who care for patients with polytrauma injuries and limb loss participated in the Science Café hosted by the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland on April 27.

Photo
May 9, 2023

Tidewater Market Celebrates Nurses Week

Tidewater Market Celebrates Nurses Week

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (May 9, 2023) Rear Adm. Matthew Case, director of the Defense Health Agency Tidewater Market and commander of Navy Medical Forces Atlantic, meets with chief nurses from DHA Tidewater Market military treatment facilities as part of National Nurses Week 2023. During the meeting, Case thanked the nurses for their role in helping provide ...

Photo
May 9, 2023

Tidewater Market Celebrates Nurses Week

Tidewater Market Celebrates Nurses Week

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (May 9, 2023) Rear Adm. Matthew Case, director of the Defense Health Agency Tidewater Market and commander of Navy Medical Forces Atlantic, meets with chief nurses from DHA Tidewater Market military treatment facilities as part of National Nurses Week 2023. During the meeting, Case thanked the nurses for their role in helping provide ...

Video
May 8, 2023

DHA National Nurses Week 2023 – Nurses Make A Difference compilation video

DHA National Nurses Week 2023 – Nurses Make A Difference compilation video

Compilation video highlights nurses and nursing teams from across the Defense Health Agency commenting on how “nurses make a difference, anytime, anywhere—always.” DHA will celebrate nurses and the integrated health care team National Nurses Week May 6-12, 2023. National Nurses Week recognizes how nurses – whether in uniform, civilians or contractors ...

Fact Sheet
Apr 20, 2023

MHS GENESIS Fact Sheet

.PDF | 662.83 KB

MHS GENESIS is the Department of Defense's new electronic health record. When fully deployed, MHS GENESIS will provide the DOD's 9.6 million beneficiaries and 205,000 medical providers with a single, integrated health record across the continuum of care – deployed and at home and eventually, through the transition to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Video
Apr 18, 2023

Nurses Week 2023: Nursing is more than a job

Nurses Week 2023: Nursing is more than a job

Short video features a nurse or nurses from across the Defense Health Agency representing their military hospital or clinic, responding to the prompt of what nursing means to them. This video is shared to make ready-made content available as part of the celebration of National Nurses Week 2023. During National Nurses Week (May 6-12) and throughout the ...

Video
Apr 18, 2023

Nurses Week 2023: Nursing means supporting our service members

Nurses Week 2023: Nursing means supporting our service members

Short video features a nurse or nurses from across the Defense Health Agency representing their military hospital or clinic, responding to the prompt of what nursing means to them. This video is shared to make ready-made content available as part of the celebration of National Nurses Week 2023. During National Nurses Week (May 6-12) and throughout the ...

Refine your search
Last Updated: September 06, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery