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NEPMU-7 Keeps 6th Fleet Good to Go

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS031015-19

Release Date: 10/15/2003 4:51:00 PM

By Lt. j.g. John Ferrari, Naval Air Station Sigonella Public Affairs

SIGONELLA, Sicily (NNS) -- Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit (NEPMU) 7 is here to help Naval Air Station Sigonella (NASSIG)and others with such things as de-rat certification, or rodent extermination, on ships, consults on plans for exercises, or workplace health assessments.

With some 30 officers and enlisted personnel, NEPMU-7 is responsible for the prevention and assessment of disease and non-battle injuries (DNBI) throughout Europe and Africa. The men and women of NEPMU-7 take their jobs very seriously. Force health readiness "has shaped history," says Cmdr. Chris Clagett, NEPMU-7's threat assessment department head.

Throughout history, he notes, more wartime casualties have been caused by disease and non-combat injuries than by combat. "Preventive medicine is regarded as a force multiplier," Clagett says - preventive medicine can keep a force healthy and give it the edge it needs to prevail in battle.

With four departments - threat assessment, deployment readiness and laboratory services, operations, and administration - NEPMU-7 provides the 6th Fleet with preventive medicine services ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary. "It's difficult to describe all the things we do," Clagett says. "There are times when half the unit will be gone."

Among the more routine assignments tasked to NEPMU-7: the unit's entomologist and preventive medical technicians provide de-rat certifications for ships returning to the United States from the 6th Fleet's area of responsibility.

NEPMU-7's industrial hygienists assess workspaces for heat and noise levels, as well as the presence of hazardous materials such as asbestos, while environmental health officers handle food-safety issues.

In the threat assessment department, Clagett scans DNBI data compiled weekly by each unit in the 6th Fleet, searching for health problems as diverse as heat prostration and outbreaks of the flu. He also reviews exercise plans to ensure that they meet health requirements - everything from the water supply to food storage facilities must be taken into consideration.

"Some people will actually plan to house people on what are basically toxic waste sites," Clagett sayid. "It's my job to bring that to their attention and suggest an alternative."

Clagett carried out one of the unit's more extraordinary tasks in July, when he deployed to Monrovia, Liberia, as part of European Command's (EUCOM) Humanitarian Assistance Survey Team (HAST).

"The whole team's mission was to identify what the United States government could do to improve the situation in Monrovia," Clagett explained.

The team's medical provider and public health consultant, Clagett was responsible for the health of the 30-member HAST and assessing conditions in and around the Liberian capitol. Deploying with just 12 hours' notice, Clagett grabbed two bags of medical supplies and headed out. After surveying the region's water and electricity supplies, medical facilities and sanitation infrastructure, he came to a simple conclusion: "Their conditions were pretty sad.

"Because of fighting and instability," relief organizations and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) couldn't effectively help the area's refugees. At one refugee camp, Clagett recalled, "the refugees were foraging in the forest for cassava root, and that's not a good diet." Sanitary facilities in the camps were almost nonexistent.

By the end of the HAST's 16-day mission in Liberia, Clagett had formulated his conclusions. "The first thing [they need] is security so the NGOs can go out and do their thing," he said, adding that clean water, sanitation facilities and public health education are also top priorities for the area.

Clagett says his time in Liberia gave him a renewed appreciation for conditions in the United States - and for the importance of preventive medicine. "Preventive medicine," he explained, "can make the difference between winning and losing."