264518 DHS Workforce Health & Medical Support for International Deployments

Monday, October 29, 2012

Ingrid Hope, RN, MSN , Office of Health Affairs, Department of Homeland Security, Arlington, VA
The Department of Homeland Security is the largest law enforcement agency in the United States. The DHS vision is to ensure "A safe, secure, and resilient homeland where American intrests, aspirations, and way of life can thrive." In keeping with this vision, DHS personnel are often deployed to foreign nations to assist in the response to a disaster as well as to carry out the DHS mission to secure the homeland. Travel outside of the continental United States (OCONUS)can pose severe challenges to health and safety of DHS personnel, includinig the potential to prevent them from accomplishing their mission.

The Office of Health Affairs (OHA)has the capability to assess the health and medical risks associated with foreign travel and provide recommendations to optimize medical readiness for temporary duty DHS personnel. In addition to the above, WHMS provides information on country specific health-related risks and immunization recommendations for DHS employees traveling OCONUS. This insures an uninterrupted and productive trip. Since its inception, OHA has provided guidance and support to DHS operational components that deploy to disaster areas, notably, the 2010 Haiti earquake disaster.

Given the large response needed for the Haiti disaster, OHA was successful in coordinating the delivery of medical countermeasures, personal protective equipment and recommended travel immunizations to personnel deploying. OHA also developed and implemented DHS Pre- and Post Deployment Occupational Health and Exposure questionnaires, produced daily medical update briefs for the DHS workforce and leadership, and provided medical guidance and support to DHS components and offices.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the largest law enforcement agency in the United States. The DHS vision is to ensure “A safe, secure, and resilient homeland where American interests, aspirations, and way of life can thrive.” In keeping with this vision, DHS personnel are often deployed to foreign nations to assist in the response to a disaster as well as to carry out the DHS mission to secure the homeland. Travel outside of the continental United States (OCONUS) can pose severe challenges to the health and safety of DHS personnel, including the potential to prevent them from accomplishing their mission. The Office of Health Affairs (OHA), Division of Workforce Health and Medical Support (WHMS) has the capability to assess the health and medical risks associated with foreign travel and provide recommendations to optimize medical readiness for temporary duty (TDY) DHS personnel. In addition to the above, WHMS provides information on country specific health-related risks and immunization recommendations for DHS employees traveling OCONUS. This insures an uninterrupted and productive trip. Since its inception, OHA has provided guidance and support to DHS operational components that deploy to disaster areas, notably, the 2010 Haiti earthquake disaster. Given the large response needed for the Haiti disaster, OHA’s Workforce Health & Medical Support Division was successful in coordinating the delivery of medical countermeasures, personal protective equipment (PPE) and recommended travel immunizations to personnel deploying. WHMS also developed and implemented DHS Pre- and Post Deployment Occupational Health and Exposure questionnaires, produced daily medical update briefs for the DHS workforce and leadership, and provided medical guidance and support to DHS components and offices. There were approximately 1,700 personnel deployed to the response and recovery efforts in Haiti representing the US Coast Guard, Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration Enforcement Agency and Office of Health Affairs, to name a few. Personnel were deployed on 15 day rotations to minimize mental/psychological and physical burnout. During early deployment it was identified that there was a typhoid vaccine shortage. OHA collaborated with the Federal Occupational Health Office, the HHS SOC and US Coast Guard to ensure all deploying personnel had all necessary vaccines prior to departure. Learning Objectives 1. Overview of the DHS Pre- and Post- Deployment support 2. Immunizations/vaccines recommended pre-travel 3. Travel advisories for deploying personnel (sanitation, personal safety precautions, insect precautions, etc) 4. Key partnerships 5. Lessons learned

Keywords: Disease Prevention, Workforce

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the co-principal author of the poster presentation. My primary work focus is on workforce health protection and medical support for DHS personnel.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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