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NEPMU 6 Holds Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100304-10
Release Date: 3/4/2010 1:28:00 PM

By Sonar Technician Surface 2nd Class (SW) Eric D. Ocampo, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- An official grand opening ceremony was held aboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a new Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit (NEPMU) 6 facility Feb. 17.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii and Primatech CI completed construction of the $6.76 million project that was awarded in May 2007.

Personnel from NEPMU 6, NAVFAC Hawaii and local commanding officers and guests were in attendance.

"We are proud of the new $6.76 million building and the opportunity this presents for us to expand our support to the fleet and deployed/deploying service members. We are already engaging both PACFLT [Pacific Fleet] and PACOM [Pacific Command] to extend additional real-time force health protection products throughout the AOR [area of responsibility]," said Cmdr. Marshall Monteville, officer-in-charge of NEPMU 6.

Tours of the laboratory spaces were conducted after the ribbon and cake cutting ceremony.

Among the spaces showcased were the entomology, biohazard, industrial hygiene and environmental health labs. The facility has numerous up-to-date capabilities from testing soil, measuring the amount of metals on painted surfaces, analyzing the purity of water samples, examining air quality in parts per trillion and identifying disease carrying agents.

"Having a dedicated area to perform lab and research and the capability to identify and diagnose infectious insects is a huge leap forward for us," said Lt. Ian Sutherland, entomology laboratory officer. "For example, we are testing out a new instrument dubbed the 'larva sonic' that uses ultra-high frequencies in the water to terminate mosquito larvae."

"There's no comparison to the old building in that we've basically doubled our square footage and enhanced our laboratories and training rooms, making them state-of-the-art. We will continue to do similar work to what we did in our old building. However, our capacity has increased and our facility is now more user friendly to both the customers and technical staff," said Monteville.

"This is an absolutely beautiful facility with top notch equipment and will be a great addition to the immediate Pearl Harbor proper as well as to the upcoming joint base. These dedicated personnel are many times the unsung heroes, but they are our first responders to keep us all healthy and informed," said Rear Adm. Michael H. Anderson, command surgeon at U.S. PACOM.

Monteville emphasized that NEPMU 6's mission is to support the warfighter and assist the fleet with all of its public health initiatives and requirements.