The decorated Army field surgeon tapped last fall to temporarily oversee the troubled state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs should get the job permanently, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday.
Col. Dr. Lisa J. Hou will be nominated to be the first woman and the first Asian American to oversee the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the governor said. The appointment needs to be approved by the state Senate.
“Lisa picked up the mantle of the department at a critical juncture,” Murphy said at a press conference at the War Memorial in Trenton. “Without a doubt the pandemic has had an outsized impact on our veteran communities, especially our older veterans whose service goes back to World War II or the Korean conflict.”
Hou (pronounced How) temporarily replaced Brigadier General Jemal J. Beale in October after the adjutant general stepped down from overseeing the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs amid questions about whether enough was done to prevent COVID-19 deaths at the veterans homes.
Mark Piterski, Beale’s deputy in charge of the veterans homes, had previously resigned.
New Jersey has more than 600 veterans and their spouses currently living in three veterans home in Menlo Park, Paramus and Vineland.
The virus hit the N.J. Veterans Memorial Home in Paramus and the N.J. Veterans Memorial Home in Menlo Park especially hard as large numbers of staff and residents tested positive. Some families and lawmakers said the outbreaks at the facilities were mishandled and mismanaged, leading to the deaths of their loved ones.
As of last week, more than 200 veterans home residents had died of COVID-19 at the state’s veterans homes. That included more than 100 residents at Menlo Park, or about a third of everyone living at the facility at the the start of 2020.
There were two new coronavirus cases at veteran’s homes announced Monday, one each at Menlo Park and Paramus, state health officials said.
Hou announced last month 78 additional nurses, aides and other employees will be hired at the three veterans homes. However, health officials said it will likely take a year for the new staff to be put in place and the low numbers of residents remaining in the veterans homes means there is already sufficient staff.
Some families said short staffing during the height of the pandemic helped outbreaks spread and lead to higher death tolls at the homes.
“Preparing our homes has been the focus of our work, my team’s work, and we will continue to make every effort to fight the virus,” Hou said.
In addition to overseeing the state’s veterans homes, the adjutant general commands more than 8,400 soldiers and airmen in the New Jersey National Guard, oversees the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and manages state veterans’ programs
She has spent nearly 25 years as a doctor and in a military uniform, she said.
“It feels like I’ve been training for this job for decades,” Hou said.
Hou, who was previously a deputy adjutant general, joined the New Jersey National Guard as a medical student in 1994. She earned a degree in osteopathic medicine from the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford.
She also holds a master’s degree from the U.S. Army War College and is studying for a master’s in business administration at Rutgers-Camden.
She served as a senior field surgeon in Iraq from 2005 to 2006. In 2011, she served as a field surgeon in Afghanistan, where she was the sole medical provider on an Afghanistan National Army base with 600 people.
She also previously served as the first Joint Surgeon of the New Jersey National Guard, overseeing medical personnel statewide.
Hou’s parents, sister and young nephew were in the audience to watch as the governor named her his nominee. Her father and sister are also doctors.
“As May is National Asian Pacific American month, this nomination takes on a special glow as Col. Hou blazes a new path in our state’s history,” Murphy said.
Murphy has appointed New Jersey’s first female-majority cabinet. Thirteen of the 25 cabinet positions are currently held by women.
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