CONTACT: Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, 518-786-4581

FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008

WHO:

New York Army National Guard Colonel Joan Sullivan, currently deployed overseas, will accept her health care service award from HANYS via recorded video message from Afghanistan. Members of the New York Army National Guard’s 466th Area Support Medical Company will be in attendance to receive the award.

WHAT:

LATHAM -- Hundreds of health care leaders from every corner of New York State will converge at The Sagamore on Lake George on Wednesday, June 25 to present their highest award to the New York Army National Guard’s 466th Area Medical Support Company and to Army National Guard physician Colonel Joan Sullivan for administering life-saving care to thousands of wounded or injured Soldiers deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

WHEN:

Wednesday, June 25, at 8 p.m.

WHERE:

The Sagamore Hotel Conference Center, Bolton Landing, New York

The Health Association of New York State (HANYS) represents and advocates on behalf of all New York’s hospitals and health systems at all levels of the federal and state government. HANYS is an integral player in health policy discussions. HANYS also communicates members’ concerns and positions to New York and national media in support of the Association’s legislative and regulatory initiatives. The 40th Annual Membership Conference at the Sagamore this June 25-27 is about the future-about how health care providers are defining the future on their own terms and shaping a new reality in health care. The conference will present Distinguished Service Awards to both Dr. Sullivan as an individual and to the members of the Army National Guard’s 466th Area Support Medical Company for their service and sacrifice to save others. Colonel Joan Sullivan Born and raised on Long Island, and now hailing from Ithaca, Col. Sullivan served as the division surgeon of the 42nd Infantry Division and was responsible for the health and medical care of 23,000 American Soldiers serving in Tikrit, Iraq in 2005. Sullivan volunteered to return to combat once again, deploying to Kabul, Afghanistan this spring as the brigade surgeon for the New York Army National Guard’s 27th Brigade Combat Team. Colonel Sullivan’s service also included time in New York City after the September 11 attacks monitoring the health of National Guard Soldiers on duty around Ground Zero. New York Army National Guard’s 466th Area Medical Support Company From October 2006 until September 2007, the 72 Soldiers of the Glens Falls-based medical company were responsible for providing immediate medical care in a region stretching from Baghdad to the Kuwait border, an area as big as the state of Pennsylvania. The 466th’s primary mission was to provide medical treatment and coverage for the convoys which continually move along the main highway between Baghdad and Kuwait. Operating from four dispersed locations, and often coming under fire while treating casualties, the men and women of the 466th would treat and stabilize patients before moving them on for more advanced care elsewhere.