The
Wounded Warrior Care Coordination Summit, sponsored by the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy, kicked off lastMonday night with a welcome reception at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia.
[caption id="attachment_995" align="alignright" width="299" caption="Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy's Principal Director Philip Burdette (left), Director of Programs and Budget Peg Mencl and Director of the Recovery Care Coordination Program Robert Carrington (right) are joined at the Care Coordination Summit by actor Sean Astin, who is an active supporter of Service members and their families. Astin is best known for his role as Samwise Gamgee in the motion picture Lord of the Rings."]
Actor
Sean Astin, best known for his role as Samwise Gamgee in
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, made a surprise appearance and thanked summit participants for their work on behalf of Service members and their families. Mr. Astin served for 10 years as a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army, advocating for military families and is still passionate about the cause of improving care for Service members and their families.
Phil Burdette, Principal Director for Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy, provided the opening remarks for the reception.
Tuesday morning, WWCTP’s Director of the
Recovery Coordination Program, Bob Carrington, officially opened the summit and encouraged the group to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of the assembled participants throughout the course of the summit. He then turned the time over to
John Campbell, deputy assistant secretary of defense for wounded warrior care and transition policy, who commended participants for taking time out of their busy schedules to participate in the summit. He emphasized that improved recovery care coordination for wounded warriors and their families is a top strategic goal of the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy, and asked participants to keep that goal in mind over the next few days.
Working groups spent the rest of the first day of the
Wounded Warrior Care Coordination Summit meeting and finalizing objectives and outcomes for their topic areas. Working groups also shared questions and ideas back-and-forth through the Summit Clearinghouse, which enables facilitators to manage questions and answers between working groups. As best practices are identified in each group, they are also routed through the Summit Clearinghouse and compiled for analysis by the Best Practices Working Group.