Maine Army National Guard Medical Detachment Handles PHA's

Photo By Sgt. Jarod Dye | Sgt. Kerry Chalmers gets his blood pressure taken during an annual Periodic Health Assessment at the Augusta Armory, February 4, 2017  

AUGUSTA, ME, UNITED STATES

02.04.2017

Story by Spc. Jarod Dye 

121st Public Affairs Detachment

Maine Army National Guard Soldiers train every month to maintain their skills and proficiencies at their individual jobs. They do so to stay prepared for deployment at any time. However, to maintain this state of readiness they must also be medically ready to deploy by having up to date medical, dental, and personnel files.
To fulfill this requirement, many Maine Army National Guard Soldiers completed their Periodic Health Assessment (PHA) Saturday at the Augusta Armory.
“We have a lot of Soldiers without health care or that don’t go to their providers regularly,” said Sgt. 1st Class John Rivard, Non Commissioned Officer in charge of the PHA this month. “We pick issues up, track them, and make sure they get followed up.”
The PHA’s are an annual assessment that have to be completed by each Soldier every year. They help find unresolved health issues and then either make a treatment plan or treat the issue on the spot.
“It starts with a questionnaire, asking anywhere from family history to current behavioral health status,” said Rivard. “From there you’ll get your vision checked, your hearing checked, you’ll get a full dental work up including treatment if you need it, you’ll get labs done, you’ll get immunizations if you need them, and then you’ll see a doctor.”
Soldiers come to the PHA’s as whole units and go thought the process as a group before heading back to regular training for the weekend.
“It’s important to the unit,” said Rivard. “Keeping you up to date on your health status is important, but the Army wants to know if you’re healthy enough to deploy.”
The importance of completing PHA’s is more than an annual requirement, it is integral for unit operations.
“It is a big event to make sure all of our Soldiers are ready for deployment,” said Pfc. Allison Alcantara, a dental readiness technician for the Maine Army National Guard Medical Detachment.
PHA’s involve hundreds of Soldiers and technicians all moving through one building and can be very complex to organize especially when 90 percent of Soldiers are required to be medically up to date at all times.
“So far it’s been very smooth, and last year was very nice, they said it was probably one of the best,” said Alcantara.
Soldier fitness, health, and wellbeing is of the utmost importance to ensure the strength of the Army. Keeping up on these matters periodically is always necessary to stay ready to deploy and complete missions at any time. This is a task well done by the Maine Army National Guard Medical Detachment, a unit that continuously ranks in the top ten of medical detachments nationwide.

• Date Taken: 02.04.2017
• Date Posted: 02.04.2017 14:38
• Story ID: 222543
• Location: AUGUSTA, ME, US
• Hometown: AUGUSTA, ME, US