Sergeant finds fun while managing medical resources

  • Published
  • By Nick DeCicco
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Because of the responsibility that comes with the job in the 60th Medical Support Squadron's resource management office, Tech. Sgt. Lisa Sawchak and her co-workers find ways to ease the pressure.

Considering they spend their days overseeing money, manpower and data analyses for the 60th Medical Group, they understand the stresses and strains of David Grant USAF Medical Center in addition to feeling them, too.

One way to fight back is through practical jokes and Sawchak, the unit's Uniform Business Office manager and NCO in charge, perpetrates this.

But Sawchak and her co-workers take their jobs seriously, too. When it comes to money and manpower in the medical group, Sawchak's office is dug deep into there statistics, managing and overseeing cash flow, the manning related to those funds and the "knowledge center" for any data needed for the hospital.

"We're quite complex," Sawchak said. "We do a lot here."

Sawchak, who was named the medical group's 2014 Outstanding Enlisted Health Services Management NCO of the Year, has worked in recent months to ease the burden on her unit in other ways, helping branch out the Defense Travel System and Government Travel Card responsibilities from flowing solely through her office to spreading authority and training out among the squadrons themselves.

"That will alleviate stuff off of us so we can concentrate on other programs that have fallen or been on the back burner," Sawchak said.

Sawchak said while RMO may bring to mind the budget for most people, her shop does more than just that. One of those is the manpower aspect, which includes working with other sections to make sure they have the number of bodies they need and, if not, putting together packages to send to higher Air Force to change that.

Sawchak said it's gratifying to see that process go from numbers on a screen to a flesh-and-bones body walking the halls of DGMC.

"It's neat to see that play out, to see that side of it," Sawchak said. "That's a huge step because as long as anyone has been here, they've known us to be the DTS gurus."

After nearly eight years at Travis, it's the people who matter most to Sawchak. She speaks fondly of her co-workers and the bond they share beyond playing pranks on one another, including monthly potlucks, bonding over lunch or spending time together on weekends.

"It's all about the people," she said. "It's the flight that makes the job."