Women's History Month on the Space Coast - Lite Rock 99.3 Spotlights: Virginia “Ginny” Garner - Vice President, Nursing – Health First
Ginny Garner formed her love of military service and healthcare at a young age.
I was born in San Bernadino California while my dad was stationed at Norton Air Force Base. I am one of five children and grew up in a military family. We were stationed at four different bases before my dad’s last assignment at Patrick AFB where he retired when I was still in grade school. I later received an Air Force ROTC scholarship and attended the University of Miami School of Nursing. While attending college, I met my future husband, Brooks. After graduation, while awaiting my first duty assignment, I actually worked for a few months as a Nurse Tech at HRMC. My time in the Air Force was a grand adventure with multiple opportunities to work and lead in a variety of healthcare areas.
After a 6-month internship at Eglin Air Force Base in North Florida, I started my Air Force career at Patrick Air Force Base working as a nurse on the inpatient unit and emergency department. I continued in the ED at the next duty assignment and then transitioned into the ICU before being selected to attend the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda Maryland for my master’s degree in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program. My next two duty assignments after graduating were as a primary care practitioner and clinic manager with an additional duty of Exercise Evaluation Team lead. I was then selected for a Readiness Fellowship and served as the Chief of Clinical Operations for Air Force Central Command overseeing medical support for OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM and spent 3 years directly supporting medical management of casualties.
My next six duty assignments were in roles as a Commander (Director/COO/CEO equivalent). My first command assignments were in Italy where I oversaw service lines such as inpatient operations, OR, L&D, Orthopedics, Radiology, Women’s Health followed by an assignment in Illinois overseeing outpatient primary care, specialty care and a family medicine residency program. I then deployed for a year to the Middle East running a medical group and aeromedical staging facility, followed by an assignment to run a medical group in Hawaii. My last command assignment was to lead Mike O’Callahan Military Medical Center which was a multispecialty teaching hospital with several graduate medical education programs and trauma partnerships in Las Vegas. I was also honored to serve as the Director of Air Force Nursing Operations and culminated my Air Force career as the Command Surgeon for Air Force Global Strike Command as the senior healthcare advisor to the Air Force Commander of strategic nuclear and bomber forces.
In total, I served 30 years on active duty with 14 assignments and 3 deployments. I was blessed to have Brooks by my side for entire adventure and to help raise our son Noah. Upon retirement, we moved back to where we have always called home, here in Brevard County. Not ready to completely retire, especially during a pandemic, I was fortunate to get the opportunity to apply for the Vice President of Nursing at Palm Bay hospital where I have been working since Jun 2021.
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