Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Cole Pielop | 210104-N-BR087-1003 SANTA RITA, Guam (Jan. 4, 2021) Lt. Neil Rampy, the senior...... read more read more
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SANTA RITA, Guam (Jan. 5, 2021) - Lt. Neil Rampy, the senior medical officer (SMO) and psychological health officer for Navy Expeditionary Forces Command Pacific-Commander, Task Force (CTF) 75, was awarded Navy Medicine’s Clinical Social Work Officer of the Year for 2020.
“I preserve our force's psychological readiness while the CTF 75 mission continues,” said Rampy. “I provide confidential one-on-one screening and counseling. The aim is to be ‘quick, close, and known’ to Sailors and identify and quickly treat their areas of distress. I also educate Sailors on topics such as operational stress control, suicide prevention, and optimal sleep, and advise command leadership on how they can strengthen their units for resilience and mitigate their stressors.”
Rampy completed nearly 300 one-on-one behavioral health encounters with service members throughout the year. His close attention to Sailor’s behavioral health exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and restriction of movement quarantine orders resulted in a 99 percent fit for full duty and a worldwide deployable rate among 1,200 deployed and forward-deployed naval forces (FDNF).
“I'm most proud of our COVID-19 response,” said Rampy. “It was an all-hands effort to respond and adapt to the crisis. We worked hard to balance COVID-19 mitigations with ongoing operations across the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations and maintain Sailor and family member’s quality of life.”
Rampy implemented tele-health programs to reach patients during this unprecedented era of social distancing and integrated with local behavioral health resources to provide alternate sources of care.
“While I have experience as a licensed independent practitioner, this was my first experience in this type of leadership role,” said Rampy. “The work has been rewarding. We have a great team at CTF 75 and a vital mission. Despite the challenges this past year, it has been fulfilling to preserve the health of the force- both from COVID-19 and our mental health.”
His responsibilities span SMO coordination and clinical coverage for five task groups with nine task-organized units comprised of FDNF and rotational Sailors located in 22 geographic locations.
CTF 75 is U.S. 7th Fleet’s primary expeditionary task force responsible for the planning and execution of maritime expeditionary security, explosive ordnance disposal, diving engineering and construction, and underwater construction in the Indo-Pacific.
“While this is an individual award, it certainly wasn't earned in a bubble,” said Rampy. “I had the support of a fantastic CTF 75 team, the mentorship and peer support from many in Navy Medicine, and--most of all--the support and understanding from my wife and our kids. My family understood that this was a year in which we all had to make sacrifices. My wife jokes that I have a few gray hairs after this year, but I don't mind - I earned them!”
As the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed fleet, U.S. 7th Fleet routinely operates between 50-70 ships and submarines and 140 aircraft with approximately 20,000 Sailors. 7th Fleet interacts with 35 other maritime nations to build partnerships that foster maritime security while conducting a wide range of missions to support humanitarian efforts and uphold international laws and freedoms of the sea.
| Date Taken: | 01.05.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.05.2021 00:18 |
| Story ID: | 386424 |
| Location: | SANTA RITA, GU |
| Hometown: | WARRENTON, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 571 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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