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Show Hilltop Times Thursday, eases be real doctors. This paper seemed just the thing to get us started. It was obviously meant to be a guide, a blueprint, to help fledgdoctors treat ling patients. Why else would they have us read it? But the paper was, at that time, a disappointment and seemed to offer very little help for Secret of good leadership is caring for the people you lead by Col. (Dr.) John Reyburn Jr. 75th Medical Group the care of the patient is in CARING for the patient. In our present age of sophisticated technology it is even more important to "care" for the patient. By now this little essay should sound very familiar to those who attended the 75th Medical Group change of command in February 1997. And my wife is at this point saying, "I've heard this speech before." But to me this is very important. The healthcare professions are all about patient care and that is based on the bedrock principle of caring for eager young doctors. y There were no all! at was There tips how to about nothing start an intravenous line; nothing about the proper nitty-gritt- A number of years ago when I was a second year medical student each of us in the class was required to read a paper entitled, "The Care of the Patient," by Dr. Francis Peabody. Dr. Peabody had first presented the paper to Harvard Medical School students in October 1926. that time Dr. Peabody was professor At of medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief physician of the Fourth Medical Service at Boston City Hospital and the first director of the Memorial Thorndyke Laboratory, a highly regarded medical research laboratory. Clear- ly, Dr. Peabody was a d medical figure. When he wrote the paper, Dr. Peabody was suffering from gas- world-renowne- Col. (Dr.) John Reyburn Jr. trie (stomach) cancer and he died one year later in October 1927 at the age of 46. As second year medical students we were ready for "real medicine." We'd had all the courses anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc. We were ready to go out and real diagnose patients, treat real dis pre-clinic- dose of antibiotics; nothing about how to interpret an EKG. The message of the paper can be summa- the patient. Certainly technical knowledge, expertise and experi- rized by quoting one line from the paper: "...the secret of the care of the al April 24, 1997 ence are important, but caring for the patient is most important. The medics, however, is in CARING for patient the patient." It bears repeating. The secret of don't have a lock on this concept most certainly not in the military. To me, caring is also the key to leadership. Dr. To paraphrase Peabody, the secret of good leadership is caring for the people you lead. It applies at any level of leadership, military or civilian, in any group. As in medicine, technical expertise, knowledge and are experience but important, caring for your people is most important. The other more commonly discussed features of leadership follow from this one. Perhaps it is best expressed in this somewhat modified military phrase which is frequently and proudly stated: "We take care of our own ... And others too!" Ak Force unit readies computers for year 2000 by SSgt. Samuel E. Warren Jr. Standard Systems Group Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE ANNEX, Ala. (AFNS) BASE-GUNTE- R Standard Systems are staking their officials Group claim as the first military computer design activity to certify one of their systems functional for the year 2000. Every Air Force base has a technical control facility that tracks communications circuits from telephones to computers, according to Capt. Billy Legg, SSG Year 2000 project officer. The Facility Circuit Information Tracking System, or FACIT, is an SSG personal computer-based software system that makes tracking these circuits a little easier. Working with Legg, SSgt. Jeffrey Haddock, system manager for FACIT, certified this Air Force-wid- e system as the first Air Force compliant. system to be year-200- 0 The computer novice might wonder what all the fuss is about. Legg explained that when the first computer applications were being developed, programmers designed the year dates showing only the last two digits of the year with the digits 1 and 9 assumed. With the year 2000 date approaching, the fields will cause major data problems for government and corporate agencies from banks to drivers license bureaus. "In a best case scenario, when someone types in the date 2000, Headquarters two-positi- then the system would just quit working," said Legg. "In a worst case scenario, when the digits of the year 2000 are entered the computerwill assume the year is 1900 and allowing users to type in four numbers to create the year date. But, the procedure isn't quite as simple. Some systems still use old main- trame or vintage per sonal computer - I instance, was born in 1957. com that For If the p u t e r "gaca can't accept 3 the eg c2 date Rtf.! BE3 M ' 'mm(mmmmmMmmtr updated or ' fa n ess. rcor replaced . ""SSS Also, some iff mmx certifi-catio- n process took six XZJ&sr and months resulted in a total software - ? P-SS V T . , l C3Eta S rx Cy ill' iKm mm tr p Iff liiUi -- YMMilll -- I 2000 ooo 2000, then it will return my age as a negative 43." The will have to be ..,,,,,1 H"HH4f 11 cost of I- programs declared year-200- 0 compliant. "I've seen studies that show only 35 percent of private industry are even working the year 2000 problem, and we already have a system that is certified compliant," said Legg. According to Legg, the solution is simple;,. progranmers have to create new programs and update old ones to accept a four position data field, "Air Force people building the world's most respected Air -- Z7nnrnun Quality Systems for America's Air Force Hilltop Times Published by MorMedia. Inc.. a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, under exclusive written contract with Hill AFB. This commercial enterprise Air Force newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the U.S. military services. Contents of the Hilltop to and able send receive to data and from " - "When we began working the year-200- 0 issue at SSG back in 1995. about SSG of the soft ware in use has to be other conversion $8,000. But according to Legg, FACIT was the first of 69 0 hardware process erroneous data. conditions with year-200data. Once this is done, the project manager validates the system as year-200- 0 there no was process in place," said a result, we worked very "As Legg. Air Force. Communiwith closely cations Agency officials to lead the development of a process which is now being used Air Force-wid- e to val0 comas idate systems being year-200pliant." Legg said the process consists of testing a system with current year data, as well as leap year data, and also includes testing for roll over and Space Force Times are not necessarily the official views of. or endorsed by. the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense or the Department of the Air Force. The appearance of advertisements in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or MorMedia. Inc.. of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex. national origin, age. marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other nnnmerit factor of the purchaser, user or patron. Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by the Ogdcn Air Logistics Center Public Affairs Office staff. Bldg. 102. Room 118. Ext. 1 Unless otherwise indicated, all photos are U.S. Air Force photos. TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT, CALL . compliant. Next, SSG's Quality Assurance section tests and validates the system. If the system passes these tests, Legg's shop certifies the system as year-2Q0compliant. Once certified, subsequent software releases :are also checked to ensure continued compliance. SSG is a leader in the federal gov0; ernment's process, according year-200- 0 conversion to Legg. However, solutions are complex and costly. "The more complex the system, the more complex the solution becomes," said Legg. "For instance, the Core Automated Maintenance for System is used Air Force-wid- e interand maintenance flightline faces with several other systems. We estimate the software conversion to make CAMS year-200- 0 compliant to be about $4.5 million." Time is also a problem. "Officials at the Department of Defense and Air Force headquarters say all computer systems 0 must be compliant and fully fielded by Dec. 31, 1998," said Legg. "This gives field computer users a little more than a year to get the bugs out of their year-200- compliant software. Legg said his staff is anxious to share 0 SSG's compliance certification with other federal and state agenprocess cies. For details about the process, visit the SSG home page at http:www.ssg. gunter.af.mil, Once Ihere, click on the Year 2000 Natural Working Group hypertext link. year-200-0 Global Power year-200- and Reach for America." Hilltop Times Editorial Staff: Pat Condon J. Robert Ballew Ma). Gen. Ma). Bill Orndorff Frances Kosakowsky Sue Berk, Lisa Ryan Commander, Director, Public Affairs Office Chief of Internal Information Editor Staff writers OO-AL- C Deadlines: Editorial and "Around the Hill" items, 3 p.m. Thursday, seven days before publication; sports articles, 9 a.m. Monday, week of publication; classified ads, 2 p.m. Tuesday, week of publication. For more information, call the editor, Ext. 625-430- 0 |