• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

FDPMU Returns From Haiti

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100325-03
Release Date: 3/25/2010 9:26:00 AM

By Lt. Benjamin Espinosa, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth

NORFOLK (NNS) -- The Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit (FDPMU) returned to Norfolk March 19 after seven weeks in Haiti supporting the disaster relief efforts of Operation Unified Response.

The Norfolk-based unit of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth deployed to assess, prevent and control public health threats to operational forces already in place.

The 13-member team consisted of experts in preventive medicine, microbiology, chemistry, entomology, and environmental and industrial health.

"We hit the ground running," said Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Wells, officer in charge. "Even before we could set up our laboratories and berthing tents, we were flooded with requests for our services."

The Haiti mission was extremely challenging compared to locations where FDPMU had previously deployed.

"When we arrived, there were no contractors on the ground and initially no support network in place," said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Jovan Robinson, the preventive medicine technician for the unit's vector component. "Camp setup and missions are completed solely by the personnel attached to the team. But the mission is the same – to ensure the health and safety of DoD assets on the ground and to prevent the spread of disease."

In Haiti, potential deadly infections like malaria and dengue fever are ever-present, so the FDPMU started by empowering the service members.

"A large part of our activities included educating forces on methods of personal protection," said Lt. Anthony Hanley, FDPMU entomologist. "This training included education on proper use of DEET, mosquito netting, policing camps of trash and structures where mosquitoes can breed, and strict adherence to anti-malaria prophylaxis."

The unit's robust microbiology lab rapidly diagnosed many of the diseases endemic to Haiti. Upon arrival, FDPMU personnel responded to a gastrointestinal disease outbreak at one of the forward operating bases in Port-au-Prince. They also addressed air and water quality issues.

"We have also been out in the city helping directly with the clean-up effort, and working with logistics support to supply clean drinking water to the local population," said Lt. j.g. Greg Wolfley, FDPMU's industrial hygiene officer.

For the unit's personnel, the experience has been life-changing.

"I'm proud to have been part of a humanitarian mission in a country that desperately needs a helping hand," said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Kegan Miller, FDPMU's logistics technician. "Slowly, every day, I could see aspects of the communities around us that were starting to clean up and rebuild."