**VETERINARY PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE**

**MEETING MINUTES**

**6116 EXECUTIVE BLVD, SUITE 700**

**November 30, 2001**

**Members Present:**

CAPT Randy Elkins NIH, PAC Chair

CAPT John Bartholomew NIH (via phone)

CAPT Judy Davis NIH

CDR Dusty Rhodes NIH

CDR Sean Altekruse NIH

LCDR Kathy Hollinger FDA

LCDR Marianne Ross FDA, Executive Secretary

**Guests Present:**

CAPT Cindy Pond NIH, CPO

CAPT Allan Lock NIH

CAPT Randolph Daley CDC (via phone)

CDR Martin Kriete NIH

LT Nelva Bryant FDA (via phone)

LCDR Brent Morse NIH

The meeting was called to order at 12:05

Minutes of the previous Vet PAC meeting were approved without objection.

## 

**[Comments from CAPT Pond, CPO:]{.underline}**

##### Information from the Office of the Surgeon General 

1\. Response to Terrorism

Descriptions were given of the CC response after the World Trade Center
bombings. The CCRF was activated immediately. CC officers also assisted
in DC after the anthrax mailings, to the DC post office and Capitol
Hill. Full details on the officers deployed are attached. DSG Moritsugu
was assigned full time to Capitol Hill as Congressional Liaison. CAPT
Veronica Stephens was assigned to Governor Ridge's office. The AMSUS
meeting was cancelled. Four DMAT officers appeared on the TV show Good
Morning America. DCP is preparing criteria for awards that will be given
to officers involved in these activities, to be used to standardize the
type of award given. These will be available to the OPDIVs in the near
future. This is critical because OPHS is going to have an awards
ceremony to present awards to those who contributed. We need to make
sure that non-CCRF officers in our category are appropriately
recognized.

2\. Reports from OSG

The Surgeon General's Call to Action on Overweight and Obesity is
tentatively scheduled for release in late 2001. There is a Surgeon
General's conference next week on Mental Retardation.

A series of four Surgeon General's Listening Sessions on Youth Violence
are scheduled:

Chicago November 7, 2001

Atlanta November 30, 2001

Los Angeles December 11, 2001

Philadelphia December 14, 2001

Dr. Satcher is not going to seek another term as Surgeon General. His
term expires February 13, 2002. He is not accepting any additional
invitations at this time. There may be a large CC event in January for
him. Dr. Satcher will be speaking at the Anchor and Caduceus Society
luncheon on January 4. All officers are invited to attend.

The OSG will have their Holiday Open House on Tuesday December 18 from
9:30AM -- 11:30AM. It will be in Room 18-57 Parklawn.

3\. Junior Officer Advisory Group

This group was formed to serve as the collective "voice" and conduit of
information on interests and concerns specific to junior officers in the
USPHS Commissioned Corps. The Junior Officer Advisory Group prepared a
charter that was sent to all categories for review and comment. The
veterinary category provided comments on the charter. The charter will
go to the Surgeon General for review.

4\. Funeral Honors

DCP has been working with the USCG to obtain funeral honors for PHS
officers. The USCG will assist in the training of PHS in the protocol
for funeral honors. If a PHS officer has served in the USCG, USCG will
make every effort to render funeral honors for that officer.

The Surgeon General's Honor Cadre continues to work with OSG and the COA
Branches to receive protocol training for aide-de-camp and funeral
honors. All interested officers should contact CAPT Richard Vause.
Officers outside the Washington DC metro area are encouraged to
participate.

5\. Opportunities for Commissioned Corps Officers outside HHS

Officers can be detailed to the Department of Agriculture (DoAg) as they
are to the US Coast Guard or the Bureau of Prisons. In 1999, the
mission/focus of DoAg changed from inspection and enforcement to a more
public health focus. This presents excellent opportunities for officers
of all disciplines. The leadership of the Department of Agriculture is
very supportive of the placement of commissioned officers.

CAPT Pond is working with Dr. Margaret Wild of the National Park Service
to try to identify positions for CC veterinarians.

6\. Inactive Reserve Component

OSG is updating its database of officers in the inactive reserve, in
order that they may be easily called to duty. They are currently
addressing many issues related to the use of the inactive reserve.
OPDIVs need to notify OSG if they have opportunities for inactive
reserve officers.

7\. OEP Meeting

The CPOs met with Office of Emergency Preparedness to discuss issues
related to membership and function of the CCRF. Several recommendations
will be made to the Surgeon General regarding the CCRF Operations Plan.

[Information from DCP]{.underline}

1\. Promotion Cycle

For the upcoming promotion cycle, officers eligible for permanent
promotions will not be placed into cohorts. Officers eligible for
temporary promotions are to follow the same procedures as were in place
last year. Detailed information is available to officers and their
supervisors in the CC Bulletin and on the DCP web page
[[www.dcp.gov]{.underline}](http://www.dcp.gov/)

2\. Savings/Insurance

Detailed information on the Thrift Savings Plan is available in the CC
Bulletin and from links from the DCP web page.

SGLI has changed its coverage for spouses and dependents. Detailed
information is available in the CC Bulletin and from links from the DCP
web page.

3\. CPO Selection

The Chief HSO, CAPT Vivian Chen, resigned from the position. The Acting
CPO for the Health Services Officers is CAPT Nina Dozoretz. A search for
a new Chief HSO will start soon.

The new CPO for the Environmental Health Officers is CAPT Randy
Grinnell. The appointment process for the Chief Therapist Officer is
underway. A call for names of nominees will go out soon.

#### [Vet PAC membership]{.underline}

The membership package for 2002 has been completed and approved by the
Surgeon General.

Our new members (two year term each) are:

Clark, Terri

Daley, Randolph

Hoyt, Robert

Morse, Brent

#### [PHS Recruitment]{.underline}

PHS has created a recruitment CD. Please contact the Recruitment and
Assignment Branch at 1-800-279-1605 if you are interested in obtaining
copies.

#### [Commissioned Corps Bulletin]{.underline}

CAPT Stephanie Ostrowski prepared an article on her work in England on
FMD for the Commissioned Corps Bulletin. It can be read in its entirety
at [http://dcp.psc.gov](http://dcp.psc.gov/). Click first on
'Publications/Policies' and then 'Commissioned Corps Bulletin.' The
article titled "The Emergency Response to Foot and Mouth Disease in
England" can be found in the section titled 'CCB Plus' for November
2001.

##### Appointment Standards

DCP is updating the appointment standards of all the categories. The
draft changes were placed on the DCP web site. The veterinary category
provided comments on the general information, and proposed changes for
our category's appointment standards.

#####  

##### 

###### DEPLOYED OFFICERS - CCRF

**Category September 11^th^ Attacks** **Anthrax Attacks**

Medical 17 26

Dental 16 3

Nurse 79 140

Engineer 13 7

Scientist 8 5

EHOs 14 8

Veterinarians 1 3

Pharmacists 33 100

Dieticians 3 2

Therapists 4 5

HSOs 40 27

These numbers DO NOT include officers who deployed under directed of
their Agency. For example, CDC deployed many officers as members of EIS
and NIOSH, which are not captured in the figures cited above.

# Recruitment

LCDR Hollinger reported on the Associate Recruiter Program meeting held
in November. The Commissioned Corps is interested in expanding the Corps
by approximately 25%. The strategies used for recruitment of larger
categories are not effectively adaptable to our small category of very
specialized professionals. The veterinary category needs new strategies
for effective recruitment. The PHS CC website works well to describe the
category and PHS but there are few traditional vacancies that are
announced. We are a small category so we may not need a large-scale
recruitment effort; therefore, it may be more beneficial to find
increased numbers of non-traditional veterinary roles in an effort to
increase the number of officers.

There are currently 22 applicants for the veterinary corps; only two
have final board approval. Some applicants will be transferring from
other services. This indicates that the interest in PHS is there but the
difficulty is to identify their specialties and suitable matching
vacancies. Most members of the Category have positions requiring
advanced training in several very distinct disciplines. The method used
to report lists of available applicants does not show area of specialty,
advanced training or area of interest, which would be helpful in
matching applicants with potential vacancies.

There are currently only 95 officers in the category, due to retirements
and re-hires as civil servants. We have unique problems compared to
other categories in terms of filling positions. Vacancies for
traditional veterinary positions are unavailable at this time, so we
need to expand how we are utilized in order to fill
non-traditional/non-clinical veterinary roles. We need to work with all
OPDIVs (for example, Mary Babcock at FDA) to increase awareness of the
multi-professional capacity of veterinarians. CAPT Daley will work to
find a contact person at CDC and will discuss these issues with EIS
officers.

CDR Kriete recommended obtaining a curriculum from veterinary schools to
see how current graduates can qualify for non-traditional positions.
Virginia Tech has an established government/corporate track and other
schools may offer different options. This may make it difficult to
determine overall skills from all new graduates.

Applicants need to be educated in the application process. Applicants
must first fill out paperwork for DCP and then find a position. USUHS
offers opportunities for PHS officers to develop specialized credentials
and skills but we need to identify PHS positions for veterinarians
without board certification or specialized experience. For example,
positions may be available for veterinarians in reviewer, HSO and
regulatory assignments. This can also be achieved by creating a link on
the website describing series and job classifications for applicants
with a veterinary degree.

CAPT Elkins and CAPT Pond wanted the category to continue to be
represented at the Associate Recruiter Meetings to provide insight into
more effective veterinary category recruitment strategies. LCDR
Hollinger will continue to represent the category in the Associate
Recruiter Program.

# Mentoring

A new subcommittee chair is needed. CDR Altekruse will appoint a chair
next year. The new forms and web pages describing the mentoring program
will be put on the web before the next Vet PAC meeting.

# Special Initiatives

The COA meeting will be held in Atlanta at the same time as the EIS
conference. The Veterinary Session will be held Wednesday, April 24,
which is the last day of the conference. Times will be announced based
on the number of speakers available. A luncheon will be included in the
registration fee for Category Day. COA meeting liaisons are CAPTs
Ostrowski and Daley. CAPT Daley has been involved in planning in terms
of presentation of topics and discussion of a category theme to go along
with meeting. He proposes that our category title be 'Veterinary
Response to Protect Public Health'. Veterinarians are encouraged to
educate each other as well as officers in other categories as to what we
do and how we protect public health. Anyone interested in presenting
should submit an abstract through general procedures. Persons interested
in participating in Category Day only should contact CAPT Daley. CAPT
Daley hopes for attendance from outside Atlanta area.

LCDR Hollinger will put an announcement on the website with highlights
of details on the veterinary session. The possibility of having an All
Hands meeting at the same time was discussed. However, this may not
serve to increase attendance from those outside the Atlanta area. CAPT
Daley serves on the scientific planning committee for EIS and can
provide the agenda and presentation schedule once it is determined in
March. An email will be sent to the category once scientific scheduling
is complete, to bolster attendance for both the EIS and COA meetings.

# Awards

CCRF awards may be generated for those involved in deployment for the
WTC and Pentagon attacks. Dates and names of deployed officers are
needed for unit citation and crisis response awards. Each of the OPDIVs
need to set criteria to assure that all officers get included and
recognized for their service.

Materials to recognize the outgoing PAC chair and PAC members have been
forwarded to the OSG by CAPT Pond.

# Unformed Services Holiday Dinner 

There are currently 38 officers and 29 guests attending. CAPT Pond would
like to present significant accomplishments and job diversity from
veterinary officers. She encourages all officers to submit information
that will be of interest to the tri-service arena. CAPT Pond will send
another email to advertise the Holiday Dinner.

# AVMA Booth 2002

It is necessary to have booth manned at all times. In the past, officers
have been reluctant to sign up for duty. A coordinator is needed to plan
for shipping and managing of the booth. CAPT Elkins and LCDR Hollinger
have institutional knowledge that will assist the new coordinator.
Darrell Fleming and John Scheid at FDA/CVM currently handle the
shipping. The coordinator is responsible for completing paperwork and
setting up the booth. Pictures on the display were updated 2-3 years
ago. A large collection of pictures exists so that they can be changed
often. CDR Altekruse will serve as coordinator.

# New business

During the CPO PAC chair meeting yesterday, there was a call for a
one-page document from each category to be incorporated into a larger
document to explore revitalization of PHS and Commissioned Corps. This
document should discuss such things as why the category should expand,
what would be the optimal size for the category, and how would these new
openings be identified and utilized. The emphasis is for information
outside HHS and for collaborations with outside agencies. For instance,
more veterinarians can be deployed with CCRF, VA, USDA, Park Service,
State Health Departments, etc. The deadline is Dec. 7, so CAPT Pond
would need email submissions by December 4. LCDR Hollinger will assist
in synthesizing the submissions.

Constituent operations will be alerted concerning Dr. Satcher's
departure in order to provide awards and recognition for an outstanding
job.

CAPT Pond asked that officers donate money or food to the December 18
Open House. It will take place at 0900 in the Surgeon General's
Conference Room.

Inactive reserve: Officers who are aware of any short-term tours and
opportunities to be filled by Inactive reserve Officers should provide
this information to CAPT Pond. She will then pass this information on to
the OSG, since there is a current revitalization effort in place.

The meeting was adjourned 1:45

The next meeting will be held on January 25, 2002 from 1300-1500 at 6116
Executive Blvd, Suite 700.

# 

Minutes reviewed and approved: CAPT Cynthia Pond, Chief Veterinarian