SG discusses service members' health with congressional panel 

By G.W. Pomeroy
Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs

WASHINGTON – Pre and post-deployment health care coupled with the in-theater deployment surveillance health program implemented by the Air Force Medical Service have resulted in the healthiest troops in history, the Air Force surgeon general told a congressional panel March 18.

Lt. Gen. George (Dr.) George Peach Taylor Jr., told the House Armed Services Committee’s Total Force Subcommittee that the Air Force’s Preventive Health Assessment and Individual Medical Readiness Program ensures all health requirements and screenings have been met before deployment. 

“This program has been adopted DOD-wide, and it is clearly responsible in great part for the four percent disease non-battle injury rate across DOD that you’ve been hearing about – the lowest in history,” General Taylor said.   

Taylor also noted that 99 percent of Air Force active duty and Reserve components have completed the “equally important” post-deployment health assessments with health-care providers.

The general said that troops are also returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom in better health because of “the incredible deployment health surveillance program that we have fielded.”  He said that preventive aerospace medicine teams and biological augmentation teams have been instrumental in helping to protect troops in the region from biological and environmental threats. 

“We are using amazing technology, such as our RAPIDS (Ruggedized Advanced Pathogen Identification Device), which can determine the identity of pathogens in only a few hours.  In the future, we hope to reduce the time even further, through new, more advanced – indeed, break-through -- genome-based technologies.”

Such protection technologies and efforts have also impacted the safety of the light, lean and mobile hospitals called the Expeditionary Medical System or EMEDS.

“Before we left for Iraq a year ago, we realized our EMEDS didn’t have the protection we needed from chemical weapons,” General Taylor said.  “Within 30 days, Air Force medics developed a mature NBC (nuclear biological and chemical) treatment module that could care for 100 radiological, biological or chemical casualties. 

“This is the level of ingenuity we have in our armed services – in all the services.”

Taylor termed aeromedical evacuation the “linchpin” of deployed medical operations.  He noted that the aeromedical evacuation cell added to the Air Operations Center has allowed “smooth integration with all other DOD and allied air operations in theater.”

To drive home the point of the “near-seamless integration” of the services working together, Taylor recounted the role of the various services in the care for former Army Private Jessica Lynch.

Following Lynch’s rescue from an Iraqi hospital, Taylor said that Army medics, Air Force aeromedical evacuation troops and Special Operations members transported her thousands of miles, used three different aircraft, and provided care in the air during her entire journey, until she reached the  Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center in Germany.

“All of this was accomplished in less than 15 hours,” Taylor said.  “And this same scenario saved the lives of many other, less famous but equally courageous, young heroes.”

However, such successes do not allow any time to revel, Taylor said.  “Combat medicine is an ever-evolving art, and we cannot rest for one minute.”

Developing new, better technology and enhancing human performance are critical, he said.  “Our human performance initiatives cross a spectrum from battling combat fatigue, to enhancing vision through corneal refractive surgery, to creating systems that will protect our pilots and our sensors from laser-damage.”

While all of these high-tech programs are taking place, Taylor said that families are not being ignored.  “We are also quietly caring for our members and their families at home.” 

He said that he anticipates that the next generation of TRICARE contracts will reflect a smarter way of doing business. 

“As revised financing methodology is fielded throughout all U.S.-based military treatment facilities, we are working hard with (DOD) Health Affairs and the Congress to ensure that our incentives and accountability are properly aligned for this increased, and more flexible, local responsibility for patient care funds.

“While we prepare for the next generation of TRICARE and for the enhancement of relationships with the civilian medical community and the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are always aware of the direct connection of this peacetime care with the readiness of our troops.”