UCI Health celebrates Veterans Day with flag-raising ceremony
Dual roles of military and healthcare service honored during event
Orange, Calif. — UCI Health recognized the important and dedicated service that co-workers provided by serving in the military with a flag raising and color presentation ceremony ahead of Veterans Day.
U.S. Army veteran Brian Strong, RN, a cardiac telemetry unit nurse manager at UCI Health, organized the annual event, which honors the dual roles of UCI Health colleagues who have served and now continue to serve in the healthcare field.
One such co-worker is Jess Langerud, RN, MBA, principal project manager with UCI Health and an U.S. Army veteran. Langerud recently spoke with Orange Coast Magazine about what it has meant to shepherd the construction of the new UCI Health — Irvine hospital, set to open in mid-December.
Jess Langerud. Credit: Carla Rhea.
“What is just amazing is all the thought and planning that went into the things you can’t see. Now this new complex will be the envy of medicine everywhere.”
Prior to joining UCI Health, Langerud served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, where he worked as a civil affairs battalion commander in Arizona and for nearly three years in Germany as a medical security cooperation officer in the U.S. Army Europe & Africa – Command.
UCI Health — Fountain Valley nurse manager Janet Hewson has volunteered as a guardian on more than a dozen Honor Flights since 2013, most with the nonprofit Honor Flight Southland. She does this in honor of her late father, Frederick Huson, a Korean War Veteran, and for all of those who have served.
Her passion as a volunteer was captured as part of the KNX Hero of the Week podcast where she highlighted the number of veterans she has had the pleasure of accompanying on Honor Flights.
“In the last 10 years, we’ve taken 696 veterans from Southern California to Washington, D.C. to be honored.
“It’s special to be a part of a trip that allows these incredible veterans mourn their fellow comrades that were lost and reflect on the support of their families throughout their service.”
Learn more about Honor Flight Southland.
About UCI Health
UCI Health is one of California’s largest academic health systems and the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Established on July 1, 1976, UCI Health has grown into a 1,461-bed health system that includes UCI Health — Orange, UCI Health — Irvine, four Community Network hospitals and a growing network of ambulatory care centers across Orange and Los Angeles counties. As Orange County’s only academic health systems, UCI Health is home to the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in the county, the region’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, American College of Emergency Physicians Gold Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department and a nationally recognized regional burn center verified by the American Burn Association. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people across Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County through excellence in patient care, research and medical education. Follow UCI Health on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.