Preventive Medicine Flight
The Preventive Medicine Flight is comprised of four elements, Public Health, Bioenvironmental Engineering, Base Operational Support Team, and Health Promotions. Preventive Medicine is primarily focused on the methods and strategies to prevent illnesses/injuries, rather than post-illness/injury medical intervention. As the MDS mission statement sets forth, the Preventive Medicine Flight provides quality care with a particular attention to safeguarding human health before an injury or illness occurs, and providing world-class consultation. The Preventive Medicine Flight is also the Military Treatment Facility liaison with the Army Veterinary Clinic and the AFMC Civilian Health Promotions contract located here on Hanscom AFB.
The Public Health element organizes and conducts communicable disease prevention and control programs, food safety and defense, medical entomology, sanitation plans, public health contingency response operations, and Occupational Health programs, ensuring personnel receive appropriate pre-employment, periodic and termination occupational examinations. PH tracks trend reports to provide commanders with data and insight on the population, as well as enabling our medical providers to perform sound diagnosis and interventions. PH manages 14 primary program areas and acts as an installation liaison to 124 commanders, Unit Health Monitors, and Unit Deployment Monitors, as well as to local/state health departments. PH personnel prevent communicable diseases and outbreaks via community outreach and education to the military medical community, as well as issues related to force mobilization including tracking of 13,000 Individual Medical Readiness requirements in the Aeromedical Services Information Management System.
The Bioenvironmental Engineering element conducts preventative medicine studies in support of health-related base vulnerability assessments (i.e., water and toxic industrial chemicals and toxic industrial materials) to locate and identify critical infrastructure and components and develop a mitigation plan to identify potential future threats and provides recommendations to commanders to minimize health risk(s) to base personnel and mission. This is done through a combination of the following: executing OEH Site Assessments, collecting site-specific data to characterize exposure pathways and levels to chemical, physical or radiological contaminants, performing on-site Health-Risk Assessments within potential exposure zone(s) and communicating those health risk(s) to commanders. BE uses analytical or predictive exposure modeling data to mitigate or eliminate health risks during future operations or other similar and concurrent operations by advising senior leadership and affected communities about health risks associated with operations and missions, the environment, and recreational activities. BE effectively communicates on health effects, control measures, and outcomes to mitigate or eliminate OEH and CBRN health threats. All information regarding exposure(s) of affected individuals and at-risk populations is documented using the Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System to establish an individual longitudinal exposure record.
Base Operational Support Team has been in place since 2021; this element provides outreach to the base and surrounding GSUs, as well as providing in-house acute care. The team is comprised of a Physical Therapy provider, a Mental Health provider, a Strength and Conditioning Coach, and a team leader. BOST plans, implements, and manages rehabilitation and strength programs, and maintains high care standards and ethical conduct while working as part of a patient care team. BOST personnel participate in planning, providing, and evaluating patient care interventions, utilizing therapeutic principles to restore function and support activities of daily living. The BOST providers conduct treatments utilizing special equipment, modalities, and other treatment procedures, observes, records, and reports patient responses to treatment, and gathers and documents performance/health data. This element performs and manages physical and mental health to assure effective and efficient delivery of patient care and programs to effectively restore function, prevent future injuries, and maintain a ready force.
The Health Promotions Element promotes healthy lifestyles in Airmen and the beneficiary population. The Health Promotion Coordinator is the principal action officer to the installation commander and MTF commander to promote positive health outcomes among Airmen in support of Comprehensive Airman Fitness. The Health Promotion Coordinator facilitates individual and organizational change to make healthy living the easy choice of preference primarily through policy, systems, and environmental strategies. The organizational goals and objectives of this element are to: 1) Comprehensively guide and support installation leadership in fostering a culture and environment that values health, fitness, and wellness; 2) Empower individuals and organizations to adopt sustainable strategies toward leading healthy lifestyles; 3) Enhance the health of Airmen and beneficiaries; and 4) Improve the mission readiness, productivity, and resilience of Airmen. To accomplish those goals this element sets out to do the following: conduct community outreach in support of population health, implements and evaluate health communication interventions that promote healthy behaviors, Integrate, and implement community outreach and prevention programs through actively participating in the installation Integrated Delivery System, and finally, build the MTF’s capacity to effectively deliver clinical interventions that address health behaviors.
PrevMed does not oversee any of the veterinary clinic or CHPS operations or their staffs. PrevMed only serves as a point of contact. CHPS is an AFMC/SG contract program, and because of that, it falls under local MTFs to oversee/liaise with their personnel on a given installation.