BREMERTON – Capt. Christopher S. Quarles will hand over responsibilities as commanding officer of Naval Hospital Bremerton to Capt. David K. Weiss, at 10 a.m. on Aug. 14.
Quarles leaves for his upcoming duty assignment in Bahrain as Force and Fleet Surgeon for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet.
Perhaps the most notable accomplishment of Quarles’ two-year tenure was converting the hospital’s emergency room into an urgent care center, closing the Intensive Care Unit and closing the Puget Sound Family Medicine Graduate Medical Education program.
The changes were part of a nationwide Navy Medicine project to match and/or improve clinical services to patient demand for a given military treatment facility.
During his time, the hospital became the first military treatment facility in the Department of Defense to use the electronic prescription initiative, or e-prescribing. This allows civilian prescribers to electronically forward their prescription requests on behalf of their patient to the hospital’s pharmacy..
Weiss comes to the hospital after serving as Command Surgeon, United States Africa Command.
A native of Nassau Bay, Texas, Weiss graduated from Baylor University in 1986 and from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 1990.
Weiss has served a diverse range of assignments. He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego, his Transitional internship at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and Flight Surgeon training at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
Operational assignments have included serving with 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force as platoon leader for the Shock, Stabilization and Triage Platoon in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the initial surgical company to enter Iraq, they were awarded the presidential unit citation for their efforts.
Weiss also deployed to the Horn of Africa as officer in charge of the Expeditionary Medical Facility Ten, providing support to Operation Enduring Freedom.
During a typical day at Naval Hospital Bremerton and the Branch Health Clinics of Bangor, Everett and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, there are approximately 1,255 medical outpatient visits, 295 dental outpatient visits, 1,850 prescriptions processed, nine surgery cases, two babies delivered, and an average daily census of 13 patients.
The staff consists of over 1,400 dedicated military, civilian, contract and American Red Cross volunteer personnel, including active duty medical staff forward deployed in support of various overseas commitments such as Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan and Operation Pacific Partnership 2015.
