Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan

Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan is a US Navy medical treatment facility catering to the medical needs of the Seventh Fleet, their families, base occupants, retired military service members, and civilian government employees. The hospital is located on Yokosuka Naval Base and the hospital has been present in various forms its original construction by the Japanese Imperial Navy in 1881. The current hospital is a midsized hospital and the largest military hospital on the Kantō plain. Hospital staff consists mostly of active duty members and a small group of federal employees.

History
The core hospital (headquarters of U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokosuka) is located on the grounds of the original hospital compound built in 1881 for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The original compound was destroyed by fires caused by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. The Imperial Japanese Navy rebuilt the hospital in February 1931 as a medical center and training school. At the end of World War II, American Occupational Forces used the facility as a 250-bed hospital dispensary. On September 11, 1950, at the beginning of the Korean War, the hospital was established as an official Naval hospital.



Post September 11th Operations
After September 11, 2001 the command reengineered operational readiness training. Throughout 2002, the command strengthened force health protection for the Forward-Deployed Naval Forces and those who support them while simultaneously improving Family Centered Care. In 2003 the command opened a Stork's Nest to assist pregnant women and their families throughout mainland Japan. USNH Yokosuka provided support to USS Kitty Hawk's medical department during and after Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Capabilities and Services
U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, provides a comprehensive range of emergency, outpatient and inpatient care services to about 43,000 active duty personnel and authorized beneficiaries in an area extending north to Misawa, south to Iwo Jima, and west to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Clinics and annexes are located in Iwakuni, Sasebo, Hario, Atsugi, Kamiseya, Camp Fuji, Yokohama, Iwo Jima and Chinhae, South Korea. With its regional Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS), USNH Yokosuka provides care to children with special needs at every military base in mainland Japan.

Awards and Citations
The command received its first Navy Unit Commendation for treatment of over 5,800 casualties from the Korean War. A second Navy Unit Commendation was awarded for services rendered during the Vietnam War. In 1973 the base was revitalized with the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Midway and the start of the Overseas Family Residency Program. Due to the increased importance of the Middle East and Far East theatres, a new hospital facility was built in 1980 and opened on February 10, 1981.

Shortly before the hospital opened, the command received a Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal for support provided to burn patients from the Marine Corps Training Camp, Camp Fuji, Japan, in October 1979. A second Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal was awarded for superb medical support provided between July 1986 and July 1988. A third Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal was awarded in July 1994 for support provided to victims of an explosion and fire aboard USS Midway in 1990 and victims of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Republic of Philippines in 1991.

In 1999 the Navy Medicine Inspector General recognized USNH Yokosuka as a benchmark command in customer relations and marketing. In 2001 USNH Yokosuka opened a joint Wellness Center at the Fleet Recreation Center in Yokosuka and the world's first Women, Infants and Children Overseas Office.