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Health Readiness

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight is the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) for all medically related Department of Defense policies, programs, and activities. The office is responsible for deployment medicine, force health protection, medical readiness, international health agreements, deployment related health policy, theater information systems, humanitarian and health missions, and national disaster support.

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Vaccination is the best defense against the flu

Article
12/10/2018
Vaccination is the primary method for preventing influenza and its complications and getting an annual influenza vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Erica Knight)

Vaccination is needed every year because the Influenza viruses change

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Health Readiness | Immunization Healthcare | Immunizations

Fleet surgical team saves life aboard USS Somerset

Article
12/6/2018
Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Chao, the Littoral Combat Group One, surgeon, second from left, performs an emergency appendectomy as other medical team members assist aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Andrew Brame)

We were able to determine he had acute appendicitis

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Health Readiness | Military Hospitals and Clinics

New training mannequins help Soldiers save lives

Article
11/28/2018
Soldiers at Fort Benning, Georgia, train one another on using the Tactical Combat Casualty Care Exportable system, a medical trauma training mannequin. Personnel from the office of the Program Executive Officer for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, brought new, technologically advanced medical training mannequins to Fort Benning to increase the realism of medical trauma training and ultimately to save lives and limbs. (U.S. Army photo by Patrick Albright)

The realism of it creates that white-knuckle sensation and adrenalin for the Soldier

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Health Readiness

Pararescue medics rehearse for unique mission

Article
11/7/2018
Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing revalidate their response time in the event of a catastrophic, life-threatening occurrence within the capsule of a human space flight launch at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This exercise marked the first time that the Department of Defense, NASA and commercial providers have exercised this type of event utilizing twelve live patients and the full array of air assets. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kelly Goonan)

The 920th RQW is ready to support the next era of human space flight

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Health Readiness

DoD, FDA working together to benefit warfighters

Article
11/2/2018
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner (left) and Mr. Thomas McCaffery, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) (right), congratulate on another following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the DoD and the FDA. The ceremony acknowledges the existing partnership and the future collaboration on accessing life-saving medical products for U.S. troops on the battlefield.

DoD and FDA leaders signed a memorandum of understanding to foster and prioritize the development of critical medical products

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Health Readiness

USNS Comfort conducts mass casualty training exercise

Article
10/15/2018
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Arthur Lammers, an anesthesiologist assigned to the hospital ship USNS Comfort, practices patient transfer during a mass casualty exercise. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joseph DeLuco)

A mass casualty event, by nature, is chaotic

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Health Readiness | Military Hospitals and Clinics

Say ‘Shoo’ to the flu with TRICARE

Article
9/26/2018
Amanda LaFountain, a licensed practical nurse, administers the flu shot to a Soldier. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Marshall Metzger)

Flu viruses are serious, contagious viruses that can lead to hospitalization or even death

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Health Readiness | Immunization Healthcare | Public Health

Spine surgery team adds capability, improves readiness

Article
9/11/2018
Air Force Col. (Dr.) Edward Anderson, 99th Medical Group orthopedic spine surgeon, performs a lumbar microdiscectomy surgery at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. A lumbar microdiscectomy surgery is performed to remove a portion of a herniated disc in the lower back. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Andrew D. Sarver)

The benefits of performing complex surgeries in the orthopedic spine clinic go far beyond the operating room

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Health Readiness | Military Hospitals and Clinics

Proper sleep hygiene as a force multiplier

Article
9/5/2018
The fact that properly resting personnel has multiple benefits across the spectrum of human performance and military readiness is undisputed. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Michel Sauret)

Sleep is cheap; it costs nothing to rest troops properly, with proven, immediately realized returns

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Health Readiness | Sleep

Army researchers develop tasty, healthy performance bar

Article
9/4/2018
Two U.S. Army soldiers eat a version of the Performance Readiness Bar. USARIEM researchers will monitor them to test whether the bar affects bone density. (U.S. Army photo by Mr. David Kamm)

Researchers aren’t working to provide recruits and soldiers with something that only tastes good; it has to make sense for their nutrition

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Health Readiness | Nutrition

Guard Soldier uses medical skills to save boy’s life

Article
8/31/2018
New York Army National Guard Spc. Nicole McKenzie, shown here in a personal photo, used her combat life-saving skills to help save the life of a 12-year-old boy who jumped from an overpass in Yonkers, New York, Aug. 3, 2018. (Courtesy photo)

McKenzie just completed combat life-saving training and immediately began to triage the injuries the boy sustained in the fall

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U.S. doctors save Italian patient hours from death

Article
8/8/2018
U.S. Air Force Capt. Melanie Gates, left, Capt. Nick McKenzie, and Capt. Richard Thorsted, all who are Special Operations Command Forward Northwest Africa ground surgical team members, gather for a photo at Nigerien Air Base 101, Niamey. The three doctors recently finished medical school and are serving their first deployment. They are deployed from Travis Air Force Base, California. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)

The patient had a fever, a very high heart rate and low oxygen levels

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Health Readiness | Global Health Engagement | Partners

Trauma care reference body now woven into DHA combat support

Article
8/3/2018
Establishing the Joint Trauma System within the Defense Health Agency optimally positions the JTS to serve as the reference body for all trauma care. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Johnson)

The JTS mission is to provide evidence-based process improvement of trauma and combat casualty care to drive morbidity and mortality to the lowest possible levels, and to provide recommendations on trauma care and trauma systems across the Military Health System

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Health Readiness | Access to Health Care

Shanahan discusses medical readiness, DHA transfer at Womack

Article
8/1/2018
Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan greets Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie as Army Col. John Melton, the commander of Womack Army Medical Center, looks on, at the start of a meeting at Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, July 26, 2018. Shanahan convened the meeting to discuss medical readiness, as well as how the Defense Health Agency and military services are collaborating on the integration of the Military Health System. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)

The fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act transfers the administration and management of military medical treatment facilities to the DHA beginning Oct. 1, 2018

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Health Readiness | Military Hospitals and Clinics

Leaders come together to rehearse military healthcare transition

Article
7/31/2018
Leaders from across the Department of Defense, the Army and Fort Bragg meet at U.S. Army Forces Command headquarters July 19, 2018, to discuss the upcoming transition of the administration and management of Womack Army Medical Center from the U.S. Army Medical Command to the Defense Health Agency. (U.S. Army photo by Eve Meinhardt)

There should be zero impact on delivery of medical services that support readiness of the force

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Health Readiness | Military Hospitals and Clinics
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