Surgeon general testifies on servicemembers’ health

  • Published
  • By G.W. Pomeroy
  • Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  Pre- and post-deployment health care coupled with the in-theater deployment surveillance health program have resulted in the healthiest servicemembers in history, the Air Force surgeon general told a congressional panel March 18.

Lt. Gen. (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 programs ensure all health requirements and screenings have been met before deployment.

“This program has been adopted (Department of Defense-wide), and it is clearly responsible in great part for the 4 percent nondisease battle-injury rate across DOD that you’ve been hearing about -- the lowest in history,” General Taylor said.

He also said 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 servicemembers 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 servicemembers in the region from biological and environmental threats.

“We are using amazing technology, such as our (ruggedized advanced pathogen identification device), which can determine the identity of pathogens in only a few hours,” he said. “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 affected the safety of the light, lean and mobile hospitals called the expeditionary medical system.

“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 (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,” he said.

General Taylor said aeromedical evacuation is the “lynch pin” of deployed medical operations. He said 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, General Taylor recounted the role of the various services in the care for former Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch, the first prisoner of war rescued during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

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

“All of this was accomplished in less than 15 hours,” General 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, General Taylor said.

“Combat medicine is an ever-evolving art, and we cannot rest for one minute,” he said.

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,” General Taylor said.

While all of these high-tech programs are taking place, General Taylor said that families are not being ignored.

“We are also quietly caring for our members and their families at home,” he said.

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,” General Taylor said.

“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,” he said.