Readiness, Response and Recovery a NHB Public Health team effort

Story by Douglas Stutz

Naval Hospital Bremerton/Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Bremerton

They’re doctor, detective and defender all rolled into one.

They respond to the stuff of ominous headlines, from a potential meningitis occurrence to a possible measles outbreak to a plausible tuberculosis comeback.

They are U.S. Navy public health officers.

Although National Public Health week was officially recognized April 7-13, 2024, public health officers assigned to NHB continually focus on public protection measures of readiness, response, and recovery to handle public health emergencies and public health threats.

“Public Health is the science and art of preventing disease, optimizing health, promoting healthy behaviors, and engaging community learning through a spectrum of services. This can range from research on environmental factors that affect health like water safety and air pollution to occupational health supporting safe workplaces to population health which focuses on preventing disease and reducing health disparities,” explained Cmdr. Carolyn Ellison, NHB Director for Public Health.

NHB’s Public Health team provides an overarching range of services, such as preventive medicine, audiology and hearing conservation, industrial hygiene, radiation health, occupational health, and health and wellness supportive resources.

“In an operational environment supporting our commanders and warfighters, public health officer ensures force health protection by identifying and preparing for any health threats our military personnel may face on military missions,” said Cmdr. Brian Legendre, NHB Preventive Medicine department head and public health officer. “Optimal public health in the military is accomplished through a diverse team effort of public health experts including environmental health officers, industrial hygiene, public health nurses, and safety specialists.

A few of the duties which Legendre’s Preventive Medicine team did in 2023 included completing approximately 760 health and safety inspections and over 80 Child Development Home/Child Development Center inspections, along with more than 1,510 completed water samples. They took almost 650 mosquito samples. They also did 31 ship sanitation certificate inspections and gave approximately 13,300 COVID and influenza vaccinations.

According to Dr. Dan Fredrick, NHB population health officer and public health emergency officer, everyone benefits from their public health efforts.

“Our target audience is everyone. But to break it down into two main groups, it would be the Navy fleet and all the rest of our beneficiaries. There is also a third group, who are the rest of our non-military/civilian community. The healthier we are, the less we transmit illness to our civilian community members,” Frederick said.

Ellison, Frederick and Legendre all affirm that the importance of public health can not be understated.

“Because it leads to a significantly better quality – and length – of life for members of our community. As a quick example, think of the positive impact on our lives due to proper management of water sanitation for a community or promotion of immunizations against the multitude of disease for which we have safe and effective vaccinations. Public Health works on programs to identify health disparities and ensure all persons have an opportunity to live their healthiest life,” stated Frederick.

“An estimated 25 years of the 30 years of life expectancy gained in the 20th century is due to public health measures such as vaccines, motor vehicle safety, infectious disease prevention, and healthier mothers and babies,” added Ellison, citing Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics.

Public Health’s part in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19 during the 2020-2022 pandemic years were a continuation of their effort to protect against infectious diseases and viruses. There’s a reason why smallpox and polio don’t ravage the population anymore.

“Diseases such as measles, mumps, and tetanus used to be common in the U.S. and could become common again, without public health measures,” stressed Legendre.

There does remain challenges for Public Health officers to help others to help themselves.

“Sometimes, convincing people of the most highly recommended courses of action for their own health or their family members can be a challenge. Such as overcoming misinformation that comes from a wary public which has become cynical and skeptical, in large part due to wide open social media platforms,” noted Frederick.

Other Public Health capabilities at NHB include the Hearing Conservation and Audiology clinic, which provided services last year alone for over 40,000 enrolled participants to prevent occupational-related hearing injuries and increase medical readiness.

NHB’s Industrial Hygiene team supports more than 30,000 workers throughout Navy Region Northwest encompassing 126 unique commands with 480 different shops that require an IH survey to anticipate, recognize, and evaluate occupational stressors to help prevent and reduce workplace injuries and illnesses.

NMRTC Bremerton Detachment Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Clinic supports 16,000 employees across the shipyard and 13 tenant commands through medical surveillance and certification evaluations. The detachment has the largest occupational health clinic in the Department of the Navy. The clinic is also home to the largest radiation health program in the Department of Defense and is cited as the ‘gold standard’ by Navy Seas Systems Command and Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery audits.

NHB’s Public Health’s Occupational Health personnel care for approximately 10,000 employees through medical surveillance and certification exams for numerous Navy commands, as well as U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force and Army assets.

Yet another active – and energetic – component of NHB’s Public Health is the Health Promotion and Wellness Center which promotes life-long healthy behaviors and lifestyles and provides innovative and evidence-based health educational resources and tools for staff members as well as all eligible beneficiaries.