Preventive Medicine Flight
The Preventive Medicine Flight is comprised of four elements: Public Health, Bioenvironmental Engineering , Base Operational Support Team, and Health Promotions. The flight is primarily focused on the methods and strategies to prevent illnesses/injuries, rather than post-illness/injury medical intervention. As the 66th 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 along with world-class consultation. The Preventive Medicine Flight also serves as the liaison between the Military Treatment Facility and the Army Veterinary Clinic located on Hanscom AFB.
Public Health
The Public Health element organizes and conducts communicable disease prevention and control programs, deployment health assessments, food safety and defense, medical entomology, public facility sanitation, 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 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.
Bioenvironmental Engineering
The Bioenvironmental Engineering element conducts preventive 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/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. BEE 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 plus affected communities about the health risks associated with operations/missions, the environment, and recreational activities. BEE 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
The Base Operational Support Team has been in place since 2021; this element provides an 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, reports patient responses to treatment, gathers and documents performance/health data. This element performs and manages the physical and mental health to assure effective and efficient delivery of patient care that leads to effectively restore function, prevent future injuries, and maintain a ready force.
Health Promotions Element
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 the veterinary clinic or its staff. PrevMed only serves as a 66th MDS point of contact for the veterinary clinic.