The presentation was one in a series of town halls being hosted across the region to update the various medical staffs on construction, integration, civilian personnel issues and transformation. The National Naval Medical Center has invited Volpe to speak at a town hall meeting and he will present sometime in January.

Established by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England’s memorandum of Sept. 12, 2007, JTF CapMed is the military’s first medical Standing Joint Task Force. The mission of JTF CAPMED is to implement clinical Base Realignment and Closure actions in the National Capital Region and establish an efficient, integrated military health care delivery system that brings the ‘‘Best of the Best” together to work in concert on behalf of warriors, retirees, family members and caregivers.

‘‘This is a huge undertaking,” Volpe said. ‘‘But it’s also very exciting and we want to do this right.”

Volpe discussed the definition of what ‘‘world-class” means during the town hall. He summarized that ‘‘world-class is about building, sustaining and nurturing a reputation. It means nothing if you refer to yourself as ‘world-class.’ It's only when others refer to you as ‘world-class,’ that you have really achieved something.”

Volpe said there are still key decisions that have to be made regarding BRAC, including: manning and governance of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital; civilian personnel management; force distribution; National Capital Region financial management; and JTF-CapMed organizational alignment post-BRAC. However, he said gains will be made from these ‘‘transformational initiatives” including: a joint regional approach to health care delivery; clear lines of authority and priority; unity of effort and resource sharing; interoperability; common standards and processes; support of joint and service-unique requirements; elimination of layers of command and duplication; synchronization within the National Capital Region and Joint Operating Area; routine and disaster support coordination; advocate for resources and solutions to challenges; and influence the Military Health System for enterprisewide transformation.

Volpe said Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base will become an outpatient-only facility by 2011 as mandated by BRAC law. He added that all civilians working at WRNMMC and FBCH will be Department of Defense civilians rather than service-unique.

In discussing traffic concerns at Bethesda and Fort Belvoir, Volpe said the National Naval Military Center at Bethesda has not only published a master plan, but they have also developed a transportation plan to address these specific issues.

This plan can be viewed at www.bethesda.med.navy.mil⁄Professional⁄Public_Affairs⁄BRAC⁄index.aspx.

‘‘As for Fort Belvoir, state and county officials are fully aware that Route 1, which is already congested and which runs right through the base, will need to be redone both on the base and off,” Volpe said. ‘‘As with Montgomery County’s efforts to secure funding for widening projects along Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, Virginia government officials are looking at a variety of options and pursuing funding for Route 1 improvements.”

Volpe said ‘‘BRAC is a good thing,” although “many people don't see it that way. If it wasn’t for BRAC, integrating military health care wouldn’t get done. Once we’re done, we will gain an effectiveness and efficiency that will truly make us a world-class regional military health care system.”

Additional information on BRAC and transformation can be found at www.jtfcapmed.mil.