Mr. Bill Calvert, deputy director of the Population Health Directorate at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC), collaborated with the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) to support its 2017 Annual Report to Congress: Providing the Science to Support Military Readiness and Resilience.
This report highlights how CPSTF recommendations are used to support the readiness and resilience of service members with an emphasis placed on the challenges of obesity, tobacco use and excessive alcohol use. The report also identifies important evidence gaps researchers, evaluators and funders may choose to address as well as priority areas for future CPSTF work.
Mr. Calvert, who serves as the Navy Liaison for the CPSTF, shared how the Department of the Navy (DON) uses recommendations from the Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide) to drive and support policy changes as well as design, benchmark and improve interventions that enhance the health, safety and wellbeing of service members, beneficiaries and civilians.
Obesity, tobacco use and alcohol abuse pose significant threats to military readiness and resilience. The Community Guide was cited in position papers that drove changes to the DON’s tobacco policy which included prohibiting tobacco use on submarines and medical facility campuses as well as eliminating the discounted pricing for tobacco products. The recommendations were also used to design and implement various individually adopted behavior change programs and worksite health programs, such as the “Navy’s Culture of Fitness” and point-of-decision prompts. NMCPHC implemented a Health Risk Assessment (HRA) program that provides service members direct feedback on lifestyle behaviors in combination with other interventions and the Blue-H Navy Surgeon General’s Health Promotion and Wellness Award program which is awarded to commands who follow criteria based on effective workplace programs.
“The Community Guide remains my best reference to incorporate interventions proven to work, which is valuable for the Navy given its limited resources. This is important, especially with the impending changes resulting from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017,” said Mr. Calvert, “Our focus is to support a medically ready force and improve the adoption of lifelong healthy behaviors for our service members. The Community Guide helps us do that and meet our mission”.
The CPSTF is an independent, nonfederal, nonpartisan panel of experts in public health appointed by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its members represent a broad range of research, practice and policy expertise in community preventive services, public health, health promotion and disease prevention. The CPSTF helps improve the health of all Americans by identifying community preventive programs, services and other interventions that save lives and dollars, increase longevity and improve quality of life.
To learn more about the health promotion programs at NMCPHC, visit: www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcphc/health-promotion/Pages/default.aspx
To read the full report, visit: https://www.thecommunityguide.org/content/2017-annual-report-congress
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2018 07:43 |
| Story ID: | 270082 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH , VA, US |
| Web Views: | 144 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Public Health Center Contributes to Community Preventive Services Task Force Annual Report to Congress, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT