**VETERINARY PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE**

**(Vet PAC)**

###### MEETING MINUTES

# September 23, 2004

# NIH Rockledge Campus, Building 2, Conference Room 3087

# Special meeting called to discuss USPHS 50% basic readiness charge

## 

## Members Present

  ------- --------------------- ------------------------------------------
  CAPT    Bill Stokes           CPO, NIH, non-voting Ex Officio member

  CDR     Don Gardner           NIH Representative

  CDR     Yvette Davis          Chair-Elect, Member at large

  CDR     Estella Jones         Chair, FDA Representative

  CDR     Terri Clark           NIH, Past Chair, ex officio member

  Dr.     Mark Abdy             Civil Service Representative

  LCDR    Kim Taylor            Member at large

  LCDR    Patty Klein           Junior Officer Representative

  LCDR    Regina Tan            Executive Secretary, USDA, FSIS

  *CDR*   *Shanna               *CDC Representative absent due to family
          Nesby-O\'dell*        emergency*
  ------- --------------------- ------------------------------------------

## 

## 

## Guests Present

  --------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------
  CAPT      Nancy Pate                EPA

  CAPT      John Bartholomew          NIH

  CDR       Meta Timmons              OCCO

  CDR       Alfred Montgomery         (FDA/CVM)

  CDR       Tory Hampshire            FDA

  CDR       Dan O\'Leary              CDC

  LCDR      Nelva Bryant-Gibbs        CFSAN, FDA

  LCDR      Allison Williams          CDC

  LCDR      Princess Campbell         EPA

  LCDR      Anne Emshoff              USDA, FSIS

   CDR      Gail Galland              CDC
  --------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------

CDR Estella Jones called the meeting to order at 1305 hours.

######## CPO Comments, CAPT Bill Stokes

1.  Update from ADM Babb on Force Readiness statistics, September 22,
    2004:

    a.  40% of officers met readiness standards

    b.  Readiness across all categories

        i.  An average of 40% of officers across all categories met
            readiness standards

        ii. Category readiness ranged from 26% - 55%

        iii. 26% of officers in the physicians category met readiness
             standards

        iv. 54% of officers in dieticians category met readiness
            standards

        v.  55% of officers in therapist category met readiness
            standards

2.  Consequences of not meeting 50% readiness goal

    a.  Officers up for promotion will not receive 5 points in their
        promotion package if they do not meet basic readiness standards
        by 12/31/2004.

    b.  Officers will not be promoted or assimilated if they do not meet
        requirements by 5/1/2005.

3.  Position from DHHS Secretary Thompson: Corps will be the tip of the
    disaster response spear. Over 500 Officers, which is one of every 12
    officers., were deployed for hurricane disaster response efforts.
    Officers have both moral and professional obligations to be prepared
    to meet disaster needs.

4.  CAPT Stokes asked that all veterinary officers quickly achieve Basic
    Readiness status in order to exceed the October 1 target readiness
    goal and to meet the May 1 requirement that all officers meet the
    readiness standards. .

5.  CAPT Stokes reviewed some of the other highlights from the combined
    CPO/PAC Chair/SG PAC meeting:

    a.  From CAPT Denise Canton: 1800 officers have not logged-in to the
        Office of Force Readiness and Deployment website to update their
        information. CAPT Stokes requestedthat officers login and update
        their information (<http://oep.osophs.dhhs.gov/ccrf/>).

    b.  From ADM Babb: Has received thank you notes for officers'
        contributions to hurricane disaster response, including one
        received from the FEMA director. The FEMA director particularly
        thanks those officers (such as CAPT Pate) deployed to the
        Atlanta FEMA office. CDR Timmons also deployed to the FEMA
        national operations center. Overall, over PHS 500 officers
        deployed, and PHS was represented in larger numbers than DMAT,
        DoD, or VA. Officers provided staffing for 4 hospitals, several
        Red Cross Shelters; 1 super shelter, 2 FEMA operations centers,
        and the Secretary's Emergency Response Team.

    c.  From CDR Beck, OFRD:

Anticipates sending advanced notification to officers of impending
expiration of immunizations, certifications, and licensure.

d.  There is some concern that, due to national influenza vaccination
    supply shortage issues, many officers will not meet the 10/1/2004
    immunization deadlines.(Note: The OSG subsequently issued a waiver
    of this requirement until 11/1/05)

**Discussion:**

1.  (Question posed by CDR Meta Timmons)

Are there updates on category specific promotion percentages based on
category readiness percentagesCategory-specific promotion rates are
being discussed, but linkage to category readiness percentages was not
dicussed at the joint meeting. However, for PY05, all officers must meet
basic readiness standards by May 1, 2005, or they will not be eligible
for promotion, even if recommended.

2.  CAPT Stokes noted that participation by the Veterinary Category in l
    deployments calls attention to both the quality and responsiveness
    of officers within our category. For example, ADM Babb is very aware
    of both CAPT Pate's and CDR Timmons' contributions coordinating
    roles in hurricane disaster response centers, even though their
    roles were as liaison officers rather than as a unique veterinary
    role.

**LCDR Pat Klein, CCRF Subcommittee Chair**

1.  Immunizations and training modules are the biggest hurdle for
    Veterinary officers trying to meet basic readiness standards.

2.  The President's Challenge has also been a logistical challenge for
    officers. Officers should be aware that OFRD can access the
    President's Challenge website and cross reference their physical
    activity by their PHS number.

3.  Intermediate and Advanced Readiness Policies are under discussions
    in the [Office of Commissioned Corps Force
    Management](http://dcp.psc.gov/OCCFM.asp). Intermediate and Advanced
    Levels would allow officers to be identified for more arduous
    deployments.

4.  Status of the Field Readiness Badge has not yet been decided.

5.  Manual Circular 375 "Readiness Standards for the Commissioned Corps
    of the U.S. Public Health Service(PHS) and implementation plan for
    Physical Fitness (PF)/Body Mass Index (BMI)/Body Fat (BF) Programs"
    may be used for the 10/1/2004 deadline only. These guidelines will
    not be used after 10/1/2004. Under these guidelines, officers did
    not have to send immunization documentation to MAB.
    (<http://dcp.psc.gov/PDF_docs/MC_on_Readiness_Standards_FY2004.pdf>)

6.  Manual Circular 377 \"Basic Level of Force Readiness Standards for
    the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service\"
    (<http://dcp.psc.gov/PDF_docs/Man_circ_377.pdf>) does require that
    officers send immunization documentation, including title, name,
    rank, and signature of immunizing individual (procedures standard
    for Navy). These guidelines will be in use for the 12/31/2004
    deadline. If officers have a history of disease for which
    immunizations are required in Manual Circular, they should have
    their titers checked and entered onto the Office of Force Readiness
    and Deployment website.

**Discussion:** OFRD has been sending individual email instructions to
officers with questions concerning readiness standards. LCDR Klein
instead proposes that coherent instructions be sent to all officers.

1.  To address this issue, a letter addressing category concerns should
    be drafted and forwarded through the PAC, CPO, or PAC Chair meeting.

2.  Officers, please send questions and concerns to LCDR Pat Klein
    (<Patrice.Klein@cfsan.fda.gov>).

3.  Proposed issues to be addressed include: disease titers,
    immunization records, fax line for sending immunization records,
    mechanism to check whether records have been successfully
    transmitted and received.

**Hurricane disaster response deployment updates:** CAPT Nancy Pate, CDR
Meta Timmons

1.  Deployment in the role of a Liaison Officer provided for a
    personally rewarding experience.

2.  FEMA coordination of multiple agencies was well done.

3.  It was both a privilege and honor to serve.

**VMAT disaster response deployment updates:** LCDR Pat Klein

1.  VMAT 3 (North Carolina) deployed 22 people to Hurricane Charlie, in
    Florida for 4 days. VMAT assessment concluded that Florida VMA had
    the situation well in hand.

2.  For Hurricane Ivan, 4 people from VMAT 3 and 1 person from VMAT 2
    conducted a needs assessment at the disaster site. Again, Florida
    veterinarians had the situation under control.

**Memo from DHHS Secretary Thompson:** concerning a federal public
health and medical ready reserve

1.  This reserve would be comprised of a force of civil service federal
    employees that volunteer to deploy to disaster sites and is a
    parallel program to the civilian medical reserve program for
    non-federal employees.

2.  The reserve has no guidance on readiness standards but should serve
    as surge capacity for CCRF.

3.  CCRF can be activated by request from organizations and agencies,
    while other disaster response organizations (e.g. VMAT, DMAT, FEMA)
    require activation of the Stafford Act.

**Discussion:** Comment on proposed document concerning multiple
deployment roles for veterinary officers (LCDR Pat Klein: CCRF/ORFD
Role: Public Health Veterinarian)

1.  The proposed document is based on CAPT Randolph Daley's template for
    an alternative to the clinical veterinary deployment role. This
    additional role is intended to expand the utility of veterinarians,
    allowing them to become another deployment asset.

2.  The proposal for an additional veterinary deployment role stems from
    previous deployment experience: veterinarians are not usually
    deployed in clinical roles. Valuable veterinary surveillance of
    animal health and disease has previously been suggested but not
    utilized.

3.  This additional role would not replace the clinical veterinary
    deployment role.

4.  This additional role would not have a requirement for clinical
    hours. However, other proposed requirements include completion of 4
    additional training modules, perhaps with the addition of food
    safety and water quality modules.

5.  Optional indicators are not required for acceptance of veterinarians
    into the Public Health Veterinarian deployment role. Additional
    components may be added to optional indicators (e.g. Foreign Animal
    Disease Diagnostician, board certification in laboratory animal
    medicine or board of practitioners). Optional indicators could also
    be used to justify additional officer training.

6.  PAC voting on document: consensus to move document forward with
    minor revisions.

7.  Once the final document has been approved, state public health
    veterinarians should be notified that veterinary officers in this
    role can be requested for deployment.

**New Business:** The next VetPAC meeting has been set for Thursday,
10/28/2004.

The meeting was adjourned at 1453. Minutes were prepared by LCDR Regina
Tan and approved electronically by Vet PAC members.