The NHCA Narrative: Jillyen Curry-Mathis

By John M Johnson NHCA member 

This Narrative edition provides highlights from our conversation with current NHCA President COL Jillyen Curry-Mathis, Chief of Hearing Readiness at Fort Carson, Colorado.

A lifelong dog and donkey enthusiast, COL Curry-Mathis (Jill) supervises a department with approximately 175 staff, managing five Army primary care clinics, the Soldier Readiness Processing site, and the Medical Boards (aka IDES) in support of Fort Carson. Jill is an NHCA Gasaway Lecture Honoree, the Elizabeth Guild Award and the 9A Proficiency Designator awardee, and the recipient of NHCA Outstanding Lecturer Award, to name a few of her much deserved tributes.

Originally attending college as a speech pathology major, Jill muses, “I wasn’t even aware of audiology as a profession. I wasn’t cut out for therapy sessions but loved putting together the puzzle pieces of audiology that would lead to a diagnosis and treatment…so I switched to emphasize audiology in my senior year and went on to get my master’s…the doctorate came later.”

Jill’s first assignment was at Fort Stewart with the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) soldiers. Stating, “I already loved hearing conservation education; I developed some very effective briefs and found unique opportunities to deliver those briefs that repeatedly caught the soldiers’ attention…and, I was getting encouraging feedback from new/young soldiers and combat veterans alike that they’d never heard the risk/threats of hearing injuries explained like that before and were now taking action because of the information I shared.”

Jill reminiscing, “I was walking on cloud nine, but what really sealed the deal was the first time I was able to safely
return a soldier to duty, using advanced hearing protection that recovered some of his situational awareness (lost to a hearing injury) in combat…there’s nothing like it. This bad-a$# combat-experienced infantry non-commissioned officer (NCO) acted like I had not only saved his career, but also his life…and in a way, I sorta did! That’s when it hit me, this is where I wanted to be. By the time I left Fort Stewart, their 25% hearing loss rate was down to 7%, and today they have one of the lowest rates in the Army with results as low as 3.5% thanks to the good work of our Army audiologists.”

 

Instrumental in testing a novel, portable audiometric system across Kuwait and Iraq, Jill explained the challenges of bringing advanced hearing assessment capabilities to far-forward, downrange operational situations. “First, I had to get downrange!” further explaining, “I had been deployed before with the 3rd Infantry Division in 2008, working with the tactical communications and protective system (TCAPS), which was under Major General Lynch’s wing. So, in 2019, when the opportunity to deploy presented itself again, I had some idea of what I needed and was luckily in a unit that had their Force Health Protection Officer (FHP) needing to depart theater early. Anticipating this, I refreshed all my FHP Officer skills, took a couple of courses, and was able to cross-over to cover the FHP requirements while bringing the new audiology capability to theater...in other words, if I couldn’t prove my worth outside of hearing conservation, I wasn’t going anywhere.

Next, Jill built a kit, “I pulled resources from several locations, including Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Hearing Center of Excellence, and Creare. With some creative packing, I was able to fit all the diagnostic tools needed into one briefcase-sized pelican case that I could put under my feet during transport. It ended up working out well, and I led FHP teams across Iraq, letting their subject matter expertise reign free, while teaching them what noise abatement services (which aren’t really defined in preventive medicine regulations) look like and how they can be effective.” Meanwhile, I was testing Soldiers all over Iraq, able to identify an injury in real time near what the Army calls the “point of injury” and preserve time-sensitive options for treatment. I was also able to work with the UK ENTs providing diagnostic support to their troops, as well.

Combining military interests with NHCA activities has been a goal for Jill who shares some of her favorite influences and activities. “Oh, wow, there are so many! MG Lynch, GEN. Kurilla, MG Ellis (a huge hearing conservation fan), COL(r) Amy Blank, COL(r) Kristy Casto, Colleen Le Prell, COL (r)Vickie Tuten, LTC(r) Theresa Schulz, Elizabeth Masterson, who nominated me for NHCA President-Elect, and my all-time hero, COL(r)Kathy Gates.

Jill continues, “I love the NHCA for the research that’s done, the findings shared, and the ability to work with experts whose textbooks and/or research articles were part of your doctoral studies, then your CEUs, and now being a colleague in NHCA! But it’s really the research I keep coming back for, it’s an incredible collaboration for such a narrow field, yet includes so much expertise from multiple professions. There’s really no other association like it, at least not that I’ve seen!”

Jill’s “greatest goal” while serving as the next NHCA President will be to continue Liz (Elizabeth Masterson) and Sri’s (Sridhar Krishnamurti) leadership and to maintain financial solvency without taking away from NHCA’s capabilities. Jill adds, “Like many others before me, I want to grow the membership. Many have taken on that challenge. I’m not quite sure how to crack that nut coming from the military, where I must be careful not to use undue influence because of my rank or position. I’m going to be working some surveys for approaching the Army and other branches to look at ways to broach the subject, and I’m really going to be looking to the NHCA Executive Committee to round out new approaches on the civilian side of the house.”

Jill is married to Tracy a retired NCO, proudly stating, “We’re best friends and travel buddies, as a result, anyone who knows me also knows him as he travels to all my conferences, etc. I could not have survived this career without him.” Jill adds, “Tracy was recently recognized for his volunteer activities by receiving the prestigious Kit Carson Award for his work with Santa’s Workshop, where they organize toy donations for soldiers and their families. Last year, about one thousand families were served.”

Looking to her future, Jill and Tracy will be settling into their new ranch in Tennessee just a short 5-minute drive from Fort Campbell. “We’ll board horses, but one of the barns is being converted to a dog kennel, and we want to specialize in long-term boardings for soldier deployments and schools; hoping to keep dogs out of shelters, which is where, sadly, many end up. So, I’ll be leaving the Audiology field…but NHCA will allow me to keep my foot in the door for my HC passion, and the dogs will allow me to still take care of soldiers!”

Congratulations, COL Curry-Mathis on your stellar career, upcoming retirement, and taking leadership of the NHCA!