Page 131 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2015

suspicious to airport security. The local health threat the first to enter an area and our efforts to document
may also dictate the need for entomological or verte- environmental conditions from the start of operations is
brate collection materials. critical to our conventional force brethren who follow
us. Even in Africa, there is paperwork required.
Travelling to Africa by military air will provide greater
flexibility for what types and the amount of equipment References
transported into theater. But military air can also sig-
nificantly limit movement intratheater. The movement 1. US Department of Defense. Department of Defense Instruc-
of mission-essential supplies and personnel may restrict tion Number 6490.03, August 11, 2006. http://www.dtic.mil/
whs/directives/corres/pdf/649003p.pdf.
weight allowance when moving to outstations. At the 2. Department of Defense, DoDD 6490.02E, Comprehensive
outstation there may be limited space or access to power Health Surveillance, 08 Feb 2012, accessed from http://www.
to set up equipment. Keep these considerations in mind dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/649002e.pdf.
and be creative in scaling your individual package ac- 3. Department of the Navy. Occupational and Environmental
cordingly while still accomplishing all tasks. Health Site Assessment, NTRP 4-02.9/AFTTP 3-2.82_IP/ATP
4-02.82. April 2012.
4. Heller JM. The Periodic Occupational and Environmental
Postassessment Activities Monitoring Summary (POEMS—history, intent, and rela-
tionship to individual exposures and health outcomes. US
The postassessment priority is to document findings and Army Public Health Command Technical Information Paper
recommendations and get the end product into a data No. 64-002-1110. Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD: US Army
Public Health Command.
repository for sharing and future use. Some assessments 5. Navy Warfare Development Command, US Army Medical
have a required or recommended format, as described in Department Center and School, Office of the Surgeon Gen-
this article. It may be beneficial to use standard military eral. Occupational and environmental health site assessment.
sanitary inspection or survey forms to guide portions Army Techniques Publication 4-02.82. http://armypubs.army.
of the OEHSA (e.g., a rodent survey) that can be in- mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/atp4_02x82.pdf.
corporated into a larger assessment document. A short 6. http://veda.amedd.army.mil/86257B8D004A4B6C/PHC. Ac-
cessed 18 May 2015.
memorandum for record may meet the needs of the local 7. Bailey, Hugh H., USAFRICOM Surgeon FHP Trip Report,
contracting agency or be adequate to convey immediate African Endeavor. November 2009.
concerns to the command. A full OEHSA with photos, 8. US Department of Defense. DoD Number 4715.05-G. Over-
maps, and sampling results can be upward of 50 pages. seas environmental baseline guidance document. May 1, 2007.
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/471505g.pdf.
A commander is not going to want to read through that 9. US Special Operations Command. Department of Defense
for the few key pieces of information they need to act fiscal year (FY) 2015 amended budget estimates. June 2014;
on. Once complete, send assessment products to the p. 37. http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/
TSOC as the central repository for the AOR. defbudget/fy2015/budget_justification/pdfs/amendment/02_
Procurement/PROC_MasterJustificationBook_USSOCOM_
PB_15-OCO.pdf. Accessed 23 April 2015.
Submit any gathered samples to PHC as soon as pos- 10. US Agency for International Development. ADS Chapter 530:
sible for analysis. Sample results take anywhere from 3 emergency planning overseas. Last updated 28 May 2013.
to 20 weeks, so finalized assessment paperwork may be http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/530.
delayed until these are complete. pdf. Accessed 23 April 2015.
11. US Army Medical Department. Environmental health risk
assessment. http://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/envirohealth/
Conclusion hrasm/Pages/EnvironmentalHealthRiskAssessment.aspx. Ac-
cessed 29 April 2015.
Africa is an environment that poses many significant 12. US Department of Defense Military Health System. POEMS
health threats. With deliberate emphasis on FHP, these & incident reports general information. Military Exposure
threats can be identified, assessed, and often mitigated Surveillance Library website. https://mesl.apgea.army.mil/
to levels that do not pose a significant risk for adverse mesl/secure/healthsummary/generalInfo.jsp;jsessionid=D
yZXtsfcHnjZl6K6UUfuQR9bBh1jw3Nn-PfmsB8L6pYqr
health effects. SOF medical professionals at all levels 3rAfQXh!61114829!1431695706076. Accessed 15 May 2015.
can use the various types of assessments and preventive
medicine core functions described to aid commanders in
addressing health threats. Effective health-risk commu-
nication and the documentation of conditions help to MAJ Verlo is the Deputy Command Surgeon and Force Health
ensure both the short- and long-term health of deployed Protection Officer for Special Operations Command Africa in
Stuttgart, Germany. E-mail: april.r.verlo.mil@mail.mil.
SOF. That said, the textbook answer to FHP issues will
not always guarantee success. A solid understanding of LTC Bailey is the Force Health Protection Officer for US Army
regulations, health codes, and tenets of field sanitation is Special Operations Command in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
only the basis for some of the creative solutions required SFC Cook is the Senior Preventive Medicine NCO for 10th
to address the environment of Africa. SOF is generally Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Ft. Carson, Colorado.

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