The Purposeful Leidos Team Powering Military Health Services
In the late 1990s, Deborah Merritt found herself lying sick on the bathroom floor for three days while doing her best to care for her six-month-old baby alone.
As a military spouse, she had just relocated with her husband to a new U.S. Air Force installation. It was at least two hours from the closest city, and her husband immediately departed for a mission with no information as to when he’d return. Shortly after he left, Deborah got a stomach virus and didn’t know who to call.
“I had no contacts in town, and I didn't want to call an ambulance because I was afraid they’d separate me from my son,” she says. This experience, she says, exemplifies the struggle many military spouses face each time they move.
A multifaceted background in military health services
Fast-forward eight years, and Deborah’s husband would begin his long career in command roles. As his wife, she had the honor to serve as Command Spouse, caring for every family under her husband’s supervision. To Deborah, this meant cooking for “her families”— those who have a member on temporary duty or deployed. Each Sunday, every inch of her kitchen counters were covered with 20+ casseroles. She also ensured that the families understood the resources available to them.
“I knew every family that was part of our group — their children, their situation, their support systems or lack thereof — and worked to understand their needs,” Deborah says, noting how difficult the military lifestyle can be for families in particular.
A big component of being a Command Spouse, she says, was helping military spouses connect to resources. As she noticed gaps in care, Deborah began joining various boards within the military structure to offer direct feedback and help guide policies and programs that affected military families.
“Being a Command Spouse was the best thing I’ve ever done. That passion is alive in me today, and it’s why I only work in the military health space,” she says.
Now a program manager for Leidos military health services, Deborah says these experiences gave her a direct understanding of the military experience and continue to inform her perspective on how to best provide military health services.
“If you’re going to run a healthcare program for the military and their families, then your program manager must have a direct understanding of that experience,” she says. “In this position, I get to help provide the type of support I strived for as a Command Spouse, but now it’s through programs that touch thousands of families. That’s an honor for me, and my team cares just as much about getting it right.”
Deborah’s military health services team
Deborah and each member of her management team have clinical backgrounds in the services they now lead. Deborah is a licensed professional counselor supervisor and a certified employee assistance professional (CEAP). Kelli Williamson, director of quality control, began her career as a marriage and family therapist, and Alan Rosenfeld, director of contact center operations, is both a CEAP and a licensed marriage and family therapist.
“It’s rare for every leader at this level to have been a clinician. The fact that our team can say this is incredible, and it means we automatically weave the customer care component into everything we do,” Deborah says.
Alan affirms that they each use practical knowledge from their clinical experience to support their efforts.
“Being a CEAP, I understand that our programs need to focus on short-term, solution-focused counseling, and I can help our agents determine when and how to make long-term referrals if they discover an issue that requires long-term care,” he explains.
Beyond sharing clinical backgrounds, they each agree on the importance of being able to relate to the people their programs serve.
“As a member of a military family, I know it’s critical that our staff understands each caller’s experience,” Deborah says. “If you don’t understand the stressors and the big picture of what’s happening for the person who calls in, then you might not have the same level of compassion or care for that person.”
This is why her team provides military culture training for staff specific to serving veteran and military families and their unique needs.
Kelli has worked with military families for the past decade. Military families often live through many transitions, including deployment, relocations and reintegration, all of which can cause stress and uncertainty. Supporting military families strengthens their resilience and ability to adapt in a healthy way.
Alan explains that the military community has its own language, lifestyle and way of operating that’s different from civilians.
“It’s essential that our agents understand this to offer their best help. Even small things, like knowing how and when to use someone’s military title, can help put callers at ease,” he says.
How Leidos supports military health teams
“At Leidos, our differentiator is being people-centric and tech-enabled,” Deborah says. “Our IT teams design custom tools with built-in efficiencies that empower our care coordinators to focus on the person they’re interacting with.”
By drawing on robust internal IT capabilities, managers in military health service programs have access to real-time data that helps them make informed decisions.
“This is where Leidos shines. We never have to guess what’s happening within the program because we see it as it happens,” Deborah says. “Not only do we have exceptional technology, but our management team also gets training resources to help them understand trend analysis.”
With the right people trained to use the best tools, Deborah’s team can make proactive program improvements. For instance, when Kelli’s quality assurance team notices requests for health and wellness coaching trending up, they can suggest new offerings to meet those needs. When they see high deployment rates, they can proactively prepare for family reconciliation by creating relevant content and designing programs for couples.
“Leidos is very sophisticated in tracking and analyzing data — both audit data and customer survey trends,” Kelli says. Her team analyzes data and survey results to continuously enhance and improve customer service and better meet the needs of military families.
Learn more about how teams at Leidos support our military by fostering resilience in military youth, enhancing military readiness through innovations that connect military families with people and resources, and exploring how AI can be used to tackle overwork in healthcare.
