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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>The Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Coastal S.C. Chapter awarded its Outstanding Service Award to the Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center (RHJVAMC) Pharmacy Team on Wednesday, March, 23.</p>
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<p>Chapter Vice President for Veteran and Retiree Affairs Larry Dandridge presented the award at the welcome center in the RHJVAMC. Accepting the award was the Chief of the Pharmacy, Dr. Sharon S. Castle, and the Medical Center’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Dr. Simon V. Scalia.</p>
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<p>The RHJVAHCS Pharmacy Team was recognized for providing kind, compassionate, polite, empathetic, and outstanding services to veterans and their families in 2021 and 2022 and before.</p>
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<p>“With a world-class pharmacy, it is no wonder the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center is the only habitual five-star hospital in S.C., and has been in the top 10 percent of all public and private hospitals in the U.S. for more than a decade for its excellent quality of care, infection prevention, and dozens of other performance measurements,” Dandridge said.”</p>
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<p>The award letter said, “Thousands of veterans in the Lowcountry of S.C. and Ga., have witnessed the Pharmacy Team receiving 90 percent plus positive scores on customer surveys. We veterans have also noted with pride that in the area of prescriptions received by mail, the RHJVAHCS Pharmacy has outperformed all other VA medical centers in VA Southeast Network (VISN) 7 by 3 to 5 percent.”</p>
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<p>Previous AUSA awards to the RHJVAMC have gone to an ICU Nurse, the Chief of the Patient Advocates Office, the 4B South Ward Nursing Team, the 4B South Nursing Supervisor, an OIF/OEF (now a Veterans Justice Team) Social Worker, the Emergency Department, and others.</p>
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