X-ray and CT scan technologist Kelly Cason started with Bon Secours about 10 years ago, and says the company has always helped him juggle his military commitments.

The inactive Army Reservist works at Harbour View Health Center in North Suffolk now, but he has also worked at Maryview in Portsmouth.

If the Army does call Cason, “I have a bag packed and I’m ready to go,” said the 43-year-old father of two boys.

Bon Secours Virginia Health System was recently named a recipient of the Work Life Legacy Military Award from the Families and Work Institute. A gala award ceremony will take place in New York in September.

Its Hampton Roads Health System CEO Michael Kerner stated in a press release, “Bon Secours’ mission is to provide good help to those in need, starting with our employees and their families. We are in awe of all that our military employees do to serve their country, take care of their families and support our ministry.

“It is our responsibility to provide them with a supportive and flexible work environment while they are deployed, and then welcome them home with open arms.”

Spokeswoman Lynne Zultanky said Bon Secours’ military employees, including reservists and veterans, come with strong leadership skills.

“Some of the surgeons we have from the military have significant training, especially in trauma,” she said, and Hampton Roads, with its strong military presence, has a large stock of military professionals to draw from.

Explaining how his military training has helped him in his job, Cason described an instance when, during an X-ray, he was able to take blood when others were unable to.

“Several tried and could not get blood out of this woman,” he said. “I found a vein, stuck the needle in, and got exactly what they needed. You get a lot of hands-on in the military … and you translate that into what you are doing.”

Cason has been in the Army since 1993, and with his reserve commitments once had to take 11 weeks off from Bon Secours.

“There was a little bit of grinding of teeth, but we got through it,” he said.

Bon Secours also employs guardsmen and many military spouses in various capacities, the release stated, including nurses, techs, administrative staff, financial analysts and executives.

Benefits for military employees include supplemental pay, counseling and coaching, job training, flexible work schedules and family services.

An “affinity group” for military employees and partners with the Department of Defense offers specialized employee assistance programming, and managers and service members are trained to assist during the transition from military to civilian work.

“The stress of deployment can really weigh on a service member, and knowing that Bon Secours is there to support me and my family is a blessing,” Patrick Thornton, a surgical assistant who served with the U.S. Navy Reserves in Iraq, stated in the release.

“My transition was almost seamless. My supervisor even gave me back the exact same shift that I had when I left.”