Col. John P. Cook to relinquish command to Col. Paul R. Cordts
Fort Campbell, KY – Blanchfield Army Community Hospital’s (BACH) commander Col. John P. Cook will relinquish command to Col. Paul R. Cordts July 27th at 9:00am at BACH’s emergency center lawn. Parking for the event will be located in the overflow parking lot off Bastogne Avenue’s entrance to the hospital.
Cook has served as the commander for the USA Medical Activity at Fort Campbell since July 11th, 2009.
During his tenure, Cook has overseen the care of more than 69,000 beneficiaries enrolled to the primary care clinics within the hospital, Soldier Health Services and the Screaming Eagle Medical Home. In addition, more than 109,000 beneficiaries are eligible for care from the more than 2,000 BACH personnel to help offer wellness, routine, critical and emergency medical care.
Cook and his team medically prepared more than 19,000 Soldiers to deploy to Afghanistan and continue to medically redeploy Soldiers home. More than 14,000 Soldiers have returned and received medical reintegration with another 4,000 due to go through the process from now through August.
Cook received accolades in the areas of nutrition care and growing young leaders from the Joint Commission surveyors who re-accredited BACH in November 2010 during the 3-year reoccurring accreditation process.
The Army Surgeon Gen. presented the Surgeon General’s Excalibur award to Cook for asthma health and education wellness in 2010. BACH also received an Excalibur award for breast health initiatives in 2009.
Under Cook’s leadership, the Army selected Fort Campbell to open in Clarksville, Tenn. the first of the Army’s 17 community-based primary care clinics, known as the Screaming Eagle Medical Home. This patient-centered care model places healthcare in the community where many of BACH’s beneficiaries live.
BACH also opened a one-mile rubberized fitness track circling the hospital with strategically placed outdoor workout equipment to enhance physical therapy treatment and rehabilitation to Warriors in Transition and to encourage wellness to patients. A BACH health and wellness television channel was developed to broadcast helpful information on waiting room televisions and within the community on Clarksville Department of Electricity Lightband cable channel 54. Under Cook’s command, BACH placed electronic signs at two hospital entrances to educate patients and the community about health and wellness initiatives, events and hospital services
Cook partnered with Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish Fort Campbell’s Integrated Disability Evaluation System to better transition Soldiers from active duty to the VA health system. The intent of this Department of Defense program is to reduce the overall time a Soldier spends in the disability evaluation system. This enables Soldiers to capitalize on veterans’ benefits in a timely manner. In his next assignment, Cook will serve as the Deputy Corps Chief for the Army Medical Command at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Cordts comes to Fort Campbell from serving as Winn Army Community Hospital commander at Fort Stewart, GA for two years. Cordts is a board certified vascular, critical care and general surgeon.
