HCA military veterans send U.S., Washington State flags on trip around the world
A Washington State flag and a U.S. flag are making their way around the world thanks to the Health Care Authority’s (HCA) Veterans Employee Resource Group (VERG).
The deployment flags project came out of a virtual meeting in the spring of 2020. With most employees working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, VERG attendance dropped and in-person recognition events were cancelled. To keep the VERG active and creative while staff worked remotely, the idea of deployment flags was a way to continue to recognize veterans virtually.
HCA purchased one U.S. flag and one Washington State flag, and flew them at HCA’s Olympia headquarters building on Flag Day, June 14, 2020.
We reached out to military organizations and asked them to sponsor the HCA deployment flags. When a military unit agrees to host the flags, they fly them at their location. They also can use the flags at re-enlistment ceremonies, or take the flags to locations to help heighten awareness and recognize the sacrifices made by our military. When completed, the hosting unit returns the flags to HCA or sends them on to the next military unit.
The first flag deployment happened in October 2020, where the 304th Sustainment Brigade at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait hosted the flags. Since then, the flags have been flown at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, Baghdad, Iraq, and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
Currently, the flags are at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Future deployments include Korea, and the U.S. Army Garrison in Stuttgart, Germany.
What does the HCA VERG do?
HCA’s VERG is one of several employee resource groups in the agency. It provides guidance and leadership to make HCA a veteran employer of choice.
The employee group was formed to help design effective strategies and initiatives to recruit, develop skills with, and retain veterans as employees at HCA.
The VERG strives to build a welcoming, veteran -friendly culture at HCA. The veteran culture is inclusive to active-duty military, Reserves and National Guard, military retirees, spouses of military veterans, family members of veterans, and anyone who would like to be an ally of military and veteran causes.
The VERG has two initiatives:
· The outreach initiative introduces veterans to the agency and shows them how their talents are valued at HCA.
· The transition initiative uses mentoring to help veterans apply for HCA jobs, ace interviews, and get that job offer!
The group also employs strategies to assist individuals with the military to public service transition phase and retain veterans once they are here. HCA VERG hosts events throughout the year where members can contribute their time and talents.
