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U.S. Air Force News

  • Influenza vaccine update for Airmen, families

    This year's influenza vaccine will be different for service members due to a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to not use the live attenuated influenza vaccine, commonly known as FluMist.

  • Know your supplements, it could cost you

    Airmen should be careful when taking dietary supplements -- because of the potential health risks, but also because they could lead to a positive urinalysis test result, according to officials with Air Force Reserve Command’s Medical Services Directorate and staff judge advocate’s office.

  • Health literacy key for better health, better care

    At the core of health literacy is communication between patients and their health care providers. In order to make the best decisions about their health, patients need clear information they can understand. Through patient-centered care, the Air Force is working to educate health professionals to

  • Allergist educates military community about asthma

    Asthma is no disease to sneeze at. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 24 million Americans are affected by asthma, a chronic disease that causes airways to become inflamed and makes it hard to breathe. It’s estimated that 10 people die from it per day.

  • Air Force applies new EPA guidance

    The Air Force will apply new Environmental Protection Agency guidance for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) to its ongoing effort to determine if water supplies at its U.S. installations and in local communities are at risk for contamination.

  • Cadaver training prepares AF medics for real-world encounters

    The study of human anatomy has helped further medical science since the third century. Often reserved for medical students or researchers, cadaver training at the 59th Medical Wing is helping medical technicians today build confidence and hone critical life-saving skills.

  • Putting mental health in focus

    Nearly one in five adults, or 43 million Americans, has a diagnosable mental disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Contrary to many other brain disorders, effective treatments are available for mental disorders.

  • New electronic health record system receives name

    Military Health System (MHS) officials say the new electronic health record (EHR) will be called MHS GENESIS and is set to be launched at the end of 2016. To keep pace with medical advances and innovations in technology, the Defense Department has purchased a state-of-the-art EHR that will continue

  • AF family shares experience with child’s autism

    Four-year-old Dawson Stock loves music and instruments; his mother says he is obsessed with the violin. He knows the alphabet forward and backward and is ready to read. Dawson is teaching himself the sign-language alphabet. He knows his numbers and how to add. Dawson is a high-functioning child.

  • New urgent care pilot program for Prime beneficiaries

    To increase access to care, the Defense Department is launching an Urgent Care Pilot Program for TRICARE Prime beneficiaries. This program allows Prime enrollees two visits to a network or TRICARE-authorized provider without a referral or prior authorization.

  • Eglin pathology lab probes for answers

    On any given day, the pathology and histology lab professionals at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, handle about 125 patient specimens from livers, prostates to tonsils. They evaluate, prepare and transform tissue onto microscope slides studied by pathologists. These doctors study tissues to make a

  • TRICARE improves mental health care, treatment

    People in distress may hesitate to reach out for help due to perceived stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment. This perception and the belief that care may be hard to get, may prevent some people who need care from getting it. TRICARE has worked hard to eliminate potential barriers

  • Wartime medical innovation saves lives at home

    In January, the Food and Drug Administration approved the REBOA catheter, or resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta. The REBOA is a device that’s inserted into a hemorrhaging vessel and stops or slows blood flow to that injury, while allowing blood flow to continue to other body

  • TRICARE offers relief for spring allergies

    The weather is finally warming and we can spend more time outdoors. Unfortunately for some, warm weather brings suffering from seasonal allergies. However, there is hope. TRICARE covers proven services and supplies needed to diagnose and treat allergies.

  • Sleep is serious: Catch your Zzzs

    “Beep. Beep. Beep,” the alarm blares. Time to get up. Do you hit snooze? On average, we spend 33 percent of our lives asleep. When assessing your overall health, have you considered your sleep habits?

  • Fairchild Airman named Red Cross Hometown Hero

    Master Sgt. Stephanie Horn, the health services manager for the 92nd Medical Group, was recognized as an American Red Cross Hometown Hero Feb. 26 by the American Red Cross Association for her lifesaving actions in January 2015 in Spokane, Washington.

  • Air Force Medical Service’s Year in Review

    In 2015, the doctors, nurses and technicians of the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) made a difference in the Air Force’s mission, while new AFMS technologies and training exercises ensured air and space superiority.

  • SMART program keeps medics ready for any contingency

    Military medical professionals have to always be ready for war and for whatever contingency the future brings. They need to either improve or remain current in medical skills necessary for any future battlefield, with its host of wounds and injuries, and for humanitarian assistance or disaster

  • Overseas members entitled to stateside care

    Overseas military families may face a problem when they return home to the United States for the holidays. Service members and their families enrolled in the TRICARE Overseas Program (TOP) or TOP Prime Remote are entitled to visit hospitals and clinics stateside and receive the same priority

  • Physical therapy Airmen provide healing touch

    With today's Air Force being the smallest it has ever been, mitigating lost days due to injury is of the utmost importance. Seeing a range of injuries from wrist pain to post-surgery recovery, the 4th Medical Operations Squadron’s physical therapy technicians aim to get their patients back to good

  • Air Force revamping flight, operational medicine

    The Air Force Medical Service is restructuring flight and operational medicine by separating primary care and occupational medicine services into two distinct clinics, with the goal of improving care and creating more efficient and patient-centered workflows.

  • MiCARE provides faster care

    Capt. Jennifer Varney likes to come to work early. As a family nurse practitioner and family health flight commander at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, she arrives at the base’s Family Health Clinic around 5 a.m. and checks the MiCARE site for any overnight patient emails.

  • Women’s health: Take time to get checked

    Each October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, women are reminded to put themselves first and make time for their health. Making health a priority helps people stay in optimum shape and keeps illnesses and disease at bay.

  • TRICARE Online and MiCare have similarities, differences

    TRICARE Online and MiCare Secure Messaging may seem to offer the same services, but there are important differences to these software tools, which are designed to enhance access to care for all military beneficiaries.

  • Men’s Health Month

    Each June, a congressional health education program is promoted to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.

  • Supplements: Awareness is a serious matter

    Health, fitness and energy are important considerations for all Airmen, but when does pursuing them result in potential and real problems Supplements, health foods and energy drinks may be popular and even come with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but that doesn't ensure compliance

  • AF's updated policy further promotes tobacco-free environments

    The Air Force has led the military in advancing innovative tobacco control policies, such as the tobacco-free medical campus and prohibiting tobacco use outside "designated tobacco areas." Now, an updated Air Force instruction, published in March, seeks to further reduce health impacts from smoking,

  • ‘Super’ Airman becomes professional bodybuilder

    After a heavy weight workout, Senior Airman Terrence Ruffin walks over to a row of mirrors in the gym posing and flexing his muscles for more than half an hour. This behavior isn't an overabundance of ego or vanity, but a critical part of the training routine for Ruffin, a professional bodybuilder.

  • Reservist celebrates 6 years of cancer remission

    When her husband threatened to take her to the emergency room, she made an appointment with a cardiologist and later had her blood drawn. An urgent call from the doctor later sent her to the emergency room, where she was as stunned as everyone else with the diagnosis -- Acute Myelogenous Leukemia

  • Reserve Airmen support Ebola fight on the ground

    About 15 air transportation specialists from the 446th Airlift Wing here are scheduled to depart for Dakar, Senegal, Nov. 8, to support ground personnel for the campaign against Ebola during Operation Unified Assistance.

  • Prevention is the best medicine for enterovirus D-68

    With recent cases of the respiratory illness enterovirus D-68 being reported in multiple states within the U.S., doctors want to ensure all the members of the military community are informed and safe when confronting this illness.

  • Drug misuse, abuse: No excuse

    While picking up an over-the-counter medication at the local drug store or being prescribed medication by a healthcare provider are common practices for Airmen looking to get or remain healthy, misuse or abuse of any drug can be a serious problem with serious consequences.

  • Airmen asked to participate in DOD anti-tobacco video competition

    The Department of Defense, Health Affairs, has recently announced a new countermarketing video competition that aims to target tobacco as an enemy of the military that degrades service members' health, fitness, mission readiness and work productivity. The competition entitled, "Fight the Enemy,"

  • Changes to BE WELL mean more choices for Airmen

    The BE WELL program, an Air Force-wide program designed to provide Airmen and Air Force leaders with resources to optimize fitness and health, now offers more choices and increased flexibility, thanks to a revamp that went into effect July 1.The Balanced Eating, Work Out Effectively, Living Longer,

  • TRICARE moves forward with prime service area reductions

    Defense Department officials will reduce the number of TRICARE Prime service areas in the United States beginning Oct. 1, affecting about 171,000 retirees and their family members. Those beneficiaries, who mostly reside more than 40 miles from a military clinic or hospital, received a letter earlier