Lehigh Valley physician serves at Javits New York Medical Station
Navy Capt. Dr. Charles “Chuck” Peters, a Naval reserve officer and Upper Milford Township resident, was recalled to active duty, and until recently served on the front line in what President Donald Trump calls the “war on the invisible enemy.”
The Navy ordered Peters to help staff the COVID-19 related temporary hospital at the Javits Center in Manhattan, N.Y., renamed the Javits New York Medical Station.
The 1990 Emmaus High School graduate, who has served in the Navy Reserve for 12 years, drills monthly at Expeditionary Medical Facility in Bethesda, Md.
Before entering the reserves, he had 10 years of active service.
Peters, a 1994 graduate of Muhlenberg College, earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania.
He is a cardiologist at Geisinger Wyoming Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre.
“We were quickly mobilized within 48 hours,” Peters said.
After traveling to Fort Dix, N.J., April 4 for processing, he went to his new duty station in New York City April 6 to assume duty as senior medical executive for the reserve unit in support of the task force’s mission to provide relief services for New York City hospitals.
“It’s been a success,” Peters said in a recent interview. “I oversee doctors, certified registered nurses, physicians and physician assistants and nurse practitioners.”
He had executive oversight of 61 medical personnel.
His unit “falls under the Army 44th Medical Brigade and is under the overall command of the U.S. Public Health Service in the Joint Federal Emergency Management Agency Task Force.
“We work side by side with the New York Department of Health,” he explained.
His rank as a Navy captain is equal to an Army colonel. It is one step below a one-star admiral.
Peters said initially his unit at Javits New York Medical Station had the mission of treating noncoronavirus patients, but that mission changed and patients with coronavirus were transferred there.
At the time of his interview with The Press, his unit had treated 1,095 coronavirus patients since April 6.
Peters lived in Manhattan in a Times Square hotel and FaceTimed with his family every night.
He will undergo 14 days of quarantine before returning to duty.
Peters is the son of Dr. Charles and Barbara Peters, also of Upper Milford Township.
He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children - a son, 13; and a daughter, 11.