Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Meagan Christoph | A PHEO Trio of expertise...NHB/NMRTC Bremerton's Dr. Dan Frederick (middle), Cmdr....... read more read more
It’s been long days preparing for the unpredictable, limiting the unforeseen and controlling the unexpected.
Such is the case during a pandemic outbreak for a Navy public health emergency officer (PHEO).
When Navy leadership in the Pacific Northwest needed a Navy Medicine public health subject matter expert to address novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak concerns, they knew who to request.
As soon as timely epidemiologist collaboration was required with Kitsap Public Health District and Washington State Department of Health to protect, prevent, and preclude citizens from COVID-19, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Bremerton had just the qualified staff member.
After it was deemed crucial to conduct force testing for operational readiness, requiring coordination between Navy Medicine, Navy Region Northwest and Navy fleet leadership, it was PHEO support that made it happen.
Whether supporting internal Navy commands such as Commander Navy Region Northwest (CNRMW) and Naval Base Kitsap (NBK), or external municipal partners, Dr. Dan Frederick, NMRTC Bremerton’s PHEO has been in high demand.
“Our role as PHEO is as advisors. Just like at national, state and county levels, as subject matter experts, we help leadership develop policies and directions,” said Frederick.
Frederick has continually provided updated mitigation guidance, preventative insight and situational response direction to help stop the spread of COVID-19 to protect Sailors, civilians and their families, support municipal partners, and ensure mission readiness in the Pacific Northwest.
“Our response to stopping the spread of COVID-19 is really a concerted team effort, backed by very supportive leadership, and anchored by outstanding colleagues,” said Frederick, deflecting attention and praise to Cmdr. Robert Uniszkiewicz and Cmdr. Bryan Wooldridge. “Due to the all-consuming nature of this particular pandemic, the two other physicians - Uniszkiewicz and Wooldridge - are also serving as co-PHEOs. The lion’s share of credit belongs to their ability to facilitate planning and processes and communicate to the fleet to ensure we get them the care needed in a timely manner.”
Some of the PHEO priorities have included, providing advice to any and all Navy commands on any COVID-19 issue; assisting the NMRTC-Bremerton healthcare team with patient screening, testing and management; frequent contacts with local public health officials such as Kitsap Public Health District to ensure consistency of messaging; and communicating with beneficiaries and the surrounding community on updates and temporary modifications of services at NMRTC Bremerton by a variety of methods such as audio care calls, town hall meetings, and live Facebook streaming.
“Dr. Frederick has been instrumental in helping us push vital COVID-19 information to our tenants and families. His contributions have had a tremendous impact on Naval Base Kitsap's COVID-19 prevention and response efforts. NHB/NMRTC Bremerton has some of the best, highly trained public health professionals in the region. It's a true privilege to work alongside Dr. Frederick and the NHB/NMRTC Bremerton team in our COVID-19 response,” said Capt. Rich Rhinehart, Naval Base Kitsap commanding officer.
COVID-19 has been monitored from the onset by federal government lead agencies such as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with Department of Defense assets from public health and preventive medicine also diligently following developments.
Frederick has kept tabs on COVID-19 over the last several months, just as he did following other public health threats such as last year’s measles outbreak in southern Washington, a recent spate of possible mumps clusters, and even a meningitis infection threat.
“Dr. Frederick has been working tirelessly as our key subject matter expert during several public health emergencies, ranging from mumps ‘outbreaks,’ to concerns with base housing, and now as we fight this battle against COVID-19. He is an effective communicator which has been vital during the command's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Frederick helped devise a Fleet specific communication strategy which was later adopted by BUMED as a leading practice related to the COVID-19 response. He was also a key contributor to the development of algorithms, facilitating our drive-thru screening process, COVID-19 documentation, tracking of COVID-19 test results, and our COVID-19 working group. His selfless devotion to public health is apparent in his outreach to patients and informing the command on the latest developments within the ever-changing landscape of public health. His ongoing efforts undoubtedly have a direct and substantial impact on our national defense and fleet readiness,” shared Capt. Shannon Johnson, NHB/NMRTC Bremerton commanding officer, in announcing that Dr. Frederick had been selected as the command’s senior civilian of the quarter.
For Frederick, the novel coronavirus outbreak of COVID-19 is the third significant public health event since he began at NHB/NMRTC Bremerton in 2005.
“The first was the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. The major difference there is that we had a good vaccine available within a few months. And the fatality rate was lower. But I do recall the initial feeling of surrealism when that first started and we didn’t know what we were dealing with,” recollected Frederick. “Then in 2014, the Ebola outbreak began, and that, most people will recall, was very concerning because of the high death rate. But the ability to spread was markedly reduced because of how rapidly people would become ill and die.”
Frederick attests that people will be examining and writing about many things that have made COVID-19 different compared to an influenza or Ebola contagion.
“To me, the combination of how contagious this is, even when people are either asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, are features that make it challenging to stop and have really driven the whole social distancing phenomenon – which essentially assumes the universal concept that anyone you come into contact with can infect you. Of course the other feature that will continue to make this a challenging disease is that, at this time, we have no vaccine or even standardized treatment. Like everyone else, I remain hopefully that with the world’s attention so focused on this, we will have break-through discoveries to help get us through it,” Frederick said.
Frederick has worked closely with civilian counterparts at varied city, county and state levels for most of the last two decades and combatting COVID-19 has been part of an effective, expanded partnerships. That effort with the state's Northwest Healthcare Response Network and the Washington State Hospital Association to develop a crisis standard of care flow path, which improves closer coordination in triage and send patients to available beds, has been recognized by Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, U.S. Navy Surgeon General and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
“The importance of the working relationship between us and the local public health experts cannot be overstated,” stressed Frederick. “We teleconference regularly, and anytime there’s a need, we speed dial. Our preventive medicine team here also works closely with Kitsap Public Health District and Dr. Turner’s staff particularly when it comes to contact tracing of COVID-19 cases, whether they are active duty or part of our civilian workforce. This will continue to be critical in the coming months as the efficiency of rapid contact tracing will be a major determinant in the success of preventing a resurgence of cases.”
The connection has similarly been welcomed by Frederick’s civilian counterparts.
“He has worked tirelessly on communicable disease issues over the past six months, while still working a busy and full occupational health clinic,” exclaimed Dr. Susan Turner, Kitsap Public Health District health officer. “He has done an amazing job of ensuring close communication during especially busy times such as during the mumps clusters and COVID issues. Related to the mumps clusters, Dr. Frederick quickly pulled together conference calls with many military and civilian parties to coordinate our responses and actions to protect active duty military and civilian health. He always asks the difficult questions in order to be sure the toughest issues are addressed effectively and efficiently.”
Frederick also notes that other key aspect of the close working partnership with Kitsap Public Health District is ensuring that there is a consistency of the messages being delivered to primary beneficiaries.
“Obviously in Kitsap County, as the Department of Defense is the number one employer, there is a tremendous amount of overlap in which people will be hearing from both Kitsap Public Health District and ourselves. The last thing anyone wants or needs in our current situation is conflicting guidance that would serve only to confuse. So it’s paramount for us to stay aligned,” Frederick emphasized.
Frederick is a retired Navy captain with years of experience in public health, preventive medicine, and environmental health within his area of responsibility of Navy Region Northwest.
His specialty focuses on optimizing and supporting Force Health protection and readiness by providing epidemiologic - the branch of medicine that studies epidemics and epidemic diseases - services for Navy and Marine Corps members and dependents by providing a variety of products and services in information management technology; occupational and environmental exposures; reportable medical events; and diseases, conditions and infections.
“Really, for the last several months, the planning and mitigation efforts that Dr. Frederick has capably managed have been a tremendous service to the community, all during this time of uncertainty. His high level of knowledge and proficiency has magnified our ability to care for our Fleet Sailors and Fleet Marine force, and our dependents, and also to support our community colleagues,” remarked Capt. Johnson.
In his role as a Navy public health expert, Frederick contributes to the overall health and safety of the military and the public by ensuring recognition, prevention, and resolution of a wide variety of public health concerns.
“In addition, it is incredibly valuable to have ongoing communication during the non-surge times, to understand the work Navy and civilian public health do, and how to better coordinate our efforts,” added Turner. “That rapport becomes especially important in times of surge when it is necessary to communicate even during weekend and evening hours in order to better protect active duty military and civilian cases and contacts to cases of infectious diseases.”
As noted by the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, public health emergencies such as the pandemic impacting the entire nation – and world –appear and progress rapidly, leading to widespread health, social, and economic consequences.
Frederick’s assessments, forecasts and risk analysis are designed to limit the pandemic, not an easy task. Being able to team with civilian counterparts has been beneficial for both military and civilian populations.
“The public health/preventive medicine team here have always leveraged and enjoyed a strong bond with our Kitsap Public Health partners, and by extension to Washington State Department of Health. This is because a public health event, such as the coronavirus, does not distinguish between the military and civilian community. It is reassuring to know that their dedicated team of subject matter expert are ready, willing, and only a phone call away to collaborate with us,” remarked Frederick.
“We have been committed from the beginning to working collaboratively with our civilian and community partners. It is reassuring to be able to also rely on their expertise,” added Johnson.
“These public health events are fluid and can be overwhelming with the amount of information passed in the media. Our subject matter experts, both military and civilian, are at the ‘tip of the spear’ as they sort through the information coming from many different directions in order to ensure that the most appropriate guidance is being passed in an effort to keep our Navy family well informed and safe as possible,” commented Uniszkiewicz, heading up NMRTC Bremerton’s COVID-19 working group.
Still, for all the teamwork, coordination, and communication efforts, the last few months have been a challenge that Frederick and NMRTC Bremerton confront daily.
“There have certainly been a lot of lesson learned. What’s been most challenging is staying ahead of the true COVID-19 information. In this amazing time of our information age courtesy of the internet, it’s actually not uncommon for people - both fellow medical and non-medical - to see or hear of new information before we do. But that can be a double edge sword because it’s also not unheard of for us to have to spend a fair amount of time on researching some of this information only to find out that it was either misunderstood or misleading,” said Frederick.
There has also been gratifying moments in helping to protect those in need from the spread of COVID-19.
“The camaraderie of the teams at every level, here at the hospital and branch clinics and at CNRNW, BUMED, Navy Medical Forces Pacific, and individual command shore based or afloat, is just amazing. The adage ‘one team, one fight’ has never felt more true to me,” Frederick said.
The current demand for his services notwithstanding, much of Frederick’s work has really always taken place behind the scenes.
Yet still drew notice.
At the inaugural Kitsap Sun Health Care Heroes Awards Program in 2014, Frederick was selected as a recipient of the Military Medical Personnel Award for his work as the command’s occupational medicine and population health officer, coordinating health care needs against communicable disease(s) for approximately 60,000 beneficiaries.
He was recognized as “a military medical professional who demonstrated exemplary care and gone above and beyond their normal call of duty.”
Just as he continues to do now.
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2020 20:21 |
| Story ID: | 368821 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 220 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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