West Point Class of 72

Class Notes Updates This Week

The following classes have added updates this week to their Class Notes pages. 1957 | 1959 | 1962 | 1964 | 1965 | 1970 | 1986 | 1991 | 1996 | 2004 | 2010 | 2012. Class Notes

LTC Keenan ’04 Fighting COVID in DC

Lieutenant Colonel Laura Keenan ’04 served in a variety of capacities but notably worked with the team that built the Alternative Care Site and then was embedded into Children's National Hospital in the District of Columbia helping them partner with the city and other interagency to secure critical supplies and pharmaceuticals.

Her unit worked to support the community by manning testing sites, augmenting morgue missions, providing security and support to food missions, transporting critical equipment such as ventilators from partner states, and partnering with our active duty colleagues.

WPAOG Entrepreneur Summit Features Noto ’91 as Keynote

Calling all West Point Graduate Entrepreneurs! Registration is open for our Virtual WPAOG Entrepreneur Summit on Thursday, July 23. Joining us is keynote speaker, Anthony Noto ’91, CEO of SoFi, as well as other experts in the entrepreneur ecosystem. Register today—it's free!

Fogarty ’10 Worked on Converting Metro South Medical

Lant Fogarty ’10 works for Clark Construction in Chicago, Illinois. From March 30 to April 24, Clark and its trade partners worked on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to convert the MetroSouth Medical Center on Chicago's South Side into an Alternative Care Facility for COVID-19 patients. As the project manager for Clark’s architecture squad, Fogarty oversaw the carpenters, painters, and floor installers for the project. “We had daily meetings with our subcontractors, internal team, and the overall team, which included our design partners and the Corps of Engineers, to resolve issues, define scope, and drive the work,” says Fogarty. “As the overall project manager to our senior project manager and project executive, I provided project updates, helped to implement and steer the team toward their vision, drove the quality and punch list process, and handled some miscellaneous duties such as contracts, security, and medical screenings to ensure that everyone on site did not show symptoms of COVID-19.”

In just 22 days, four days ahead of schedule, Fogarty and Clark Construction delivered a 585-patient bed facility, with 265 beds providing ICU level service to support critically ill patients. “It was a fast-paced and an extremely tiring project, but it has been the most rewarding thing I have done outside of my Army service,” says Fogarty, who deployed to Afghanistan as a Field Artillery officer with the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division during Operation Enduring Freedom. The construction of the MetroSouth Alternative Care Site was one three facilities supervised by Colonel Aaron Reisinger ’94, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District.

WPAOG Wins Four 2020 Stevie Awards

WPAOG won two Gold Stevie® Awards and two Silver Stevie Awards in the 18th Annual American Business Awards®. The competition included more than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry. WPAOG’s Gold awards were for Public Relations: NonProfit Fund Raising (150th Anniversary Video), and Other Publication – Association or Non-Profit (Parent Handbook). The Silver Awards were for Organization of the Year – Non-Profit or Government – Small, and Human Resources Team of the Year (The New Career Services Team). Read More.

LTC(R) Ellis '91 Leads Toledo Medical Center COVID Response

LTC (R) Michael Ellis '91, MD is the Chief Medical Officer at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio. Since January 2020, Ellis has helped develop and lead the hospital’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, as an Infectious Diseases physician, Ellis has spent approximately half of his time caring directly for COVID patients. He notes, “My experiences as a Field Artillery Officer and then Army Infectious Diseases physician have prepared me well for responding to the pandemic. Army physicians have been integral in combating COVID-19: leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Dr. Robert Redfield), leading the U.S. Coronavirus Task Force (Dr. Debra Birx), and serving in many other ways as physician-leaders, clinicians, and scientists around the country.”

CPT Boeckmann ’12 Training Soldiers

As restrictions for Covid-19 ease up in some parts of the U.S., West Point Grad Captain Dymon Boeckmann ’12 is taking time to make sure soldiers under her command have steady training and employment.

Boeckmann is Commander of the 355th Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) Company near Las Vegas, Nevada. This is where she started implementing a plan that would keep soldiers trained, facilities supplied, and soldiers paid.

“A large majority of my soldiers are college students, and some of them work in the hospitality industry, which has been impacted tremendously by COVID 19” said Boeckmann. Starting in April, Boeckmann took responsibility for virtual training for the soldiers under her command and ensured that they all received virtual training in safety, security, and discipline.

Boeckmann also used the opportunity and time to take on and complete needed tasks around post to help the company continue with mandatory duties such as inventories, vehicle maintenance, and supply operations during Covid-19.

Dr. Callahan ’86 Engineers PREVAIL NY Ventilator

Dr. John Callahan ’86, a practicing physician at the Syracuse, New York VA Medical Center, closely monitored the emergence of COVID-19 and was concerned with the number of patients requiring ventilators due to acute respiratory failure. He realized the United States would be facing a ventilator shortage if it did not act quickly. Callahan found a decade-old study from MIT on a student-designed, low-cost ventilator and tracked down the lead project engineer, Dr. Alex Slocum. They spoke in March, and Callahan proposed combining a medical “respiratory circuit” to the technical actuator device designed by the MIT team. The MIT effort expanded with the goal of creating an “open-source” design. Callahan, however, sought to produce commercial-grade ventilators. He took his respiratory circuit design to Syracuse University and, through the Dean of Architecture, came to work with JMA Wireless, a cell phone manufacturer.

In just 10 days, Callahan and JMA engineers created the PREVAIL NY ventilator, mating commercially available, off-the-shelf components with Callahan’s respiratory circuit. “What I am most excited about is its familiarity to physicians around the world and that it has many of the same technical components that are common to ventilators that currently exist,” says Callahan. After successfully ventilating three pigs with COVID-19 induced Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, the JMA Wireless corporate counsel submitted the PREVAIL NY device for “Emergency Use Authorization” to the FDA. While social distancing measures have mitigated the need for emergency ventilators in the United States, PREVAIL NY is ready to be deployed inexpensively whenever it is needed. “I credit my West Point education with helping me to succeed in getting this product fielded,” says Callahan. “In seeking help on this project, I was told by many that it could not be completed, but I think West Point imbues all graduates with persistence, which is learned though our many trials—successes and failures—as cadets.”

WPAOG thanks Dr. Callahan and all of the West Point Grads doing their part to help during this pandemic.

Class Notes Updates This Week

The following classes have added updates this week to their Class Notes pages. 1950 | 1958 | 1987 | 1990 | 1996 | 2000 | 2013 | 2020. Class Notes

Dr. Thurman ’00 Battling COVID in Iowa

Dr. John Thurman ’00, Medical Director of Great River Hospice House in Iowa, could see the COVID-19 outbreak was heading in his direction. So he doubled down, continuing his work on Hospice care for his patients and at the same time joining a team to create a COVID-19 Drive-Thru Clinic in West Burlington, Iowa. As more resources were diverted to COVID-19 testing and treatment, Thurman worked around the clock to keep Hospice patients taken care of and safe during the pandemic. He says “our clinic is working to resume normal operations with proper social distancing, mask wearing and cleaning all rooms before and after each patient visit. I still manage and monitor the Hospice house, admit patients and care for them to ensure comfort before passing.” He also connected with fellow West Point Grad Gary Williams ’00, who helped supply the hospital with proper PPE gear for the medical staff.

When the hospital CEO reached out to Thurman for guidance on planning a COVID-19 testing site, Thurman stepped up to the plate. He and his colleague Dr. Michael Abouassaly quickly decided that the fairgrounds across the street from the hospital would be an ideal location, and determined that a ‘Drive-Thru’ clinic model would be the best use of the space for a COVID-19 testing site. Construction for the official “Test Iowa” site started on March 24, and the drive-thru clinic officially opened on May 26. The staff at the clinic have been seeing more than 100 patients a day since it opened. Thurman says that once the COVID-19 outbreak is contained, the test site can continue to be used for disaster relief initiatives.

WPAOG thanks Thurman, Williams and all of the West Point grads doing their part to help during this pandemic.