Photo By Douglas Stutz | PMT support stands ready...As part of the Naval Hospital Bremerton's Preventive...... read more read more
“I am Hospitalman Tiffany Hubbard, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Bremerton.
Hubbard, from Antofagasta, Chile, graduated from Dimond High School in Anchorage, Alaska in 2013, and as a preventive medicine technician, has been much in demand for her specialty skill and training expertise.
As part of the command’s Preventive Medicine department, Hubbard has been vital in assisting to quickly respond and work tirelessly with initial contact tracking and screening for symptoms, close contact – and follow up - investigations and contact tracing of COVID-19 cases, all part of the overall effort to help stop the spread of the pandemic virus.
“My position is integral because it involves promoting health and well-being and preventing disease,” said Hubbard, readily acknowledging that preventive medicine technicians (PMT) are just one facet of the command’s overall team effort.
“While Preventive Medicine plays a large role in the control of this pandemic we are only a piece of the big picture. We wouldn’t be able to be successful without the help of all the amazing individuals that play a role in Navy Medicine,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard and the other command PMTs have been going almost non-stop since March responding to the pandemic outbreak.
“We’re one of the first notified of a (COVID-19) positive case. That notification kicks off a chain of events that we oversee and contribute,” explained Hubbard. “Upon notification from the lab or ordering provider, we notify the COVID-19 subject matter experts and chain of command. We then call the individual and conduct a contact investigation. The contact investigation helps our team find who might have been exposed to the individual so we can track and monitor them to keep our community safe.”
“Our team not only handles and assists our hospital staff for COVID-19, but also on the surrounding ships, submarines and with other commands,” Hubbard continued. “We educate members of our community on proper hygiene, mask usage, quarantine and isolation protocols, guidance on returning to work and more.”
Hubbard entered the Navy in Oct., 2013. Becoming a corpsman was the most intriguing option she received when joining. After graduating from Hospital Corpsman A-school in Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas – “To learn the fundamental building blocks of being a Corpsman,” attests Hubbard - she went on temporary assigned duty to Naval Health Clinic, John H. Bradley Branch Clinic, Officer Candidate School, Quantico, Va. for Operation Bulldog. She was with more than 70 other hospital corpsmen and other health care professionals augmented to provide essential medical support through the grueling training evolution. Being able to immediately put her new-found corpsmen skills to practice turned out to be invaluable.
“I learned what it was like to work hand in hand with our Marine counterparts and execute many of the newly learned skills I acquired from A-school, as well as learn many more,” related Hubbard, who in her seven years has also worked at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va., and Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla.
Along with undertaking long hours in the overall command response to the current, ongoing coronavirus outbreak, Hubbard and the other PMTs also handle multiple duties, to include performing inspections and surveys of food and food service facilities, berthing spaces, barber and beauty shops, child care facilities, recreational facilities, swimming pools, potable water systems, solid waste and waste water disposal sites and systems.
“My favorite part about being a PMT is that every day brings a new adventure and you never know what that’s going to be until the day begins,” stated Hubbard.
Additionally, PMTs conduct bacteriological analysis of food, water, and ice samples, handle epidemiological investigations and reporting, administer mass immunization programs and conduct nosocomial infection control programs. They apply statistical methods to human mortality, morbidity, and demographic studies, conduct disease vector surveillance regarding insects, rodents, parasites, and other pests, and manage control programs with survey, identification, pesticide application and other control measures.
“Not a lot of people see what we do on a daily basis. But at the end of the day we’re keeping people safe and mitigating preventable things from happening,” Hubbard noted.
Working with occupational health professionals, they can also be called upon to assist in ensuring work place environments are consistent with existing Occupational Health and Safety standards. Hubbard and the other PMT can even provide instructions to other medical – as well as non-medical - personnel in preventive medicine, industrial hygiene, environmental health and occupational health matters.
When asked to could sum up her experience with Navy Medicine in one sentence, Hubbard replied, “I’m honestly just grateful for the opportunity to be able to serve my county and make a difference.”
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.25.2020 10:13 |
| Story ID: | 374614 |
| Location: | BREMERTON, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 396 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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