Way to go, Mary Jo!

Congratulations to Captain Mary Jo Majors, US Naval Reserve, who today is receiving the Outstanding Woman Veteran Award at the Massachusetts State House. Mary Jo is Director of Clinical Operations at South Cove Community Health Center. Well, she is more than that at South Cove! She is also Director of Nursing, the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, and the Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Coordinator. (South Cove CHC has 3 clinics and serves the health care needs of a population of almost 25,000 primarily Asian patients with limited income and resources.)

The award is presented by the Massachusetts Women Veterans’ Network. Previous award recipients are listed here. Mary Jo joins a very distinguished group!

Here is the summary of her own accomplishments:

Captain Majors has been selected for this award because she is a woman veteran who has chosen to continue to serve with honor in the Navy and give back to her country for over 41 years.

Captain Majors made a commitment to join the Navy as an officer candidate while in college to take advantage of the scholarship program to complete school and serve her country following the sudden death of her father, a WWII Army veteran. She was the first in the family of five to serve on active duty and began serving her country during the Vietnam War. She has continued to serve in the Navy since then and to provide leadership, education, mentorship, and care to service members and their families in both the active duty and reserve components during her many duties and assignments over the years.

She puts “service to others” first and has demonstrated this throughout her career whether it was providing direct nursing care to the many returning wounded Vietnam War veterans at the Naval Hospital in Tennessee, or on special reserve orders to assist with the deployment of active duty staff for assignment to the Hospital Ship Comfort and the arrival of medical reservists to Bethesda Naval Hospital during Operation Desert Shield and Storm, or serving in the Pentagon to help improve the medical and dental programs and benefits offered to members in the reserve or those already retired. She continued this personal commitment to help others in the reserve force during OIF/OEF with support to the reserve command in Quincy.

She also spends many hours every month working with young women who are in various stages of a military career, whether it be as an applicant to become an officer in the Navy or a Midshipman at the Naval Academy; a NROTC Nurse Corps Midshipman attending a local Boston college; a newly commissioned NC officer; or those currently serving their country by providing guidance and letters of recommendation to enlisted hospitalmen to attend nursing school or obtain a NC candidate scholarship, or preparing junior nurse corps officers for career planning and selection boards. She utilizes her skills as a senior woman officer to mentor, educate, and be a role model to guide these women and encourage them to further develop as leaders and outstanding members of the Navy.

She has the reputation of performing her duties with total enthusiasm, engagement, exceptional ability, personal initiative, and dedication to duty and has received recognition of such with additional requests for her service, such as with future involvement with the Yellow Ribbon Family Service Support Center and the Naval Reserve Returning Warrior Weekend programs.