LCDR Sara Jager ’00 is a commander (O-5) in the United States Public Health Service serving as the chief medical officer (CMO) at one of the largest hospitals on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Arizona east of the Grand Canyon. Currently bracing themselves for a possible fall surge. The leadership qualities that she has learned at West Point and in the army have allowed her to keep staff members and patients safe from the coronavirus.
After graduation she was commissioned as a military police officer and deployed to Iraq. Returning from deployment Sara entered into a new service agreement and attended uniformed services University medical school with a public health service commitment. She knew that she wanted to serve the native people of America. Sara became a pediatrician and was a resident at the University of Utah and has been at Tuba City since graduating residency in 2013. She was named the female physician of the year for United States Public Health Service, junior officer category, in 2018.
As a leader of the medical staff during this coronavirus outbreak she has coordinated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and training, created a COVID ER, ICU and RCU. Sara is responsible for running the triage and testing tent, testing blitzes, telehealth implementation, convalescent plasma drives, PR to the community, rearrangement of dental services and dental care delivery, decentralizing specialty services like orthopedics to less hard-hit areas to get patients the care that they still need, gown sewing (with shipments held up overseas, they had to sew their own), and atypical PPE (homemade masks, bonnets and gowns). This has been some of the hardest work she has ever done in her entire career. Thank you!