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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Tech. Sgt. Johnetta Young, 380th Expeditionary Medical Group independent medical technician, performs an evaluation of a simulated patient during the public health exercise at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, Feb 18-22, 2019.190220-F-LI951-094
                        
                        
                        Tech. Sgt. Johnetta Young, 380th Expeditionary Medical Group independent medical technician, performs an evaluation of a simulated patient during the public health exercise at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, Feb 18-22, 2019. This exercise was designed and executed to evaluate the wing’s ability to appropriately prepare, prevent, and mitigate the effects of a public health emergency in order to maintain critical mission operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Darnell T. Cannady)
                
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        Staff Sgt. Casey Gasbarro, 380th Expeditionary Medical Group flight and operational medical technician, examine a simulated patient’s evaluation during the public health exercise at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, Feb 18-22, 2019.190220-F-LI951-008
                        
                        
                        Staff Sgt. Casey Gasbarro, 380th Expeditionary Medical Group flight and operational medical technician, examines a simulated patient’s evaluation during a public health exercise at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, Feb 18-22, 2019. This exercise serves as a controlled training environment in which the medical group can identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the process. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Darnell T. Cannady)
                
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380th EMDG exercise ensures the public’s healthPublished March 4, 2019
                    
                    By  Tech. Sgt. Darnell T. Cannady
                    
                    
                    380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
            **AL DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates (AFNS) --**The 380th Expeditionary Medical Group conducted a public health exercise at Al Dhafra Air Base, Feb. 18-22.Throughout the day, simulated patients entered the hospital complaining of various ailments such as fever, fatigue, night sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and back pain. As the medical staff filed these symptoms into their medical reports, Public Health was evaluated on their process of reviewing these reports to find the pattern and source of the problem.“Public health applies preventive health expertise to reduce communicable disease, occupational illness and injury for members across (Al Dhafra AB),” said Senior Master Sgt. Patricia Hughes, 380th EMDG superintendent of public health. “This principle is achieved through disease surveillance across all food service and public facilities on base as well medical intelligence briefings.”This exercise was designed and executed to evaluate the wing’s ability to appropriately prepare, prevent, and mitigate the effects of a public health emergency in order to maintain critical mission operations. It also serves as a controlled training environment in which they can identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the process.“A biological incident can happen at any time, and the noticeable effects across the force may not present themselves for hours or even days,” said Maj. Brandon Cochran, 380th EMDG medical support flight commander. “Medical response to a public health incident is inherently complex due to the vast number of potential pathogens, which are by nature challenging to detect and identify. Furthermore, treatment is often disease-specific and can be difficult in deployed environments with limited local resources.”The evaluation process focuses on the steps Public Health must utilize in investigating a potential food-borne illness. This includes a list of patient symptoms, a 72-hour food history and aggregating the data in the form of descriptive epidemiology.“The exercise allows Public Health to simulate a real world food-borne illness investigation, and ensures we stay ready and vigilant to keep Al Dhafra AB focused on the mission,” Hughes said.“A big lesson learned is the interaction Public Health must have with the clinical side of our operation,” Hughes added. “Throughout the exercise we communicated with the providers, front desk and lab services on a continual basis to validate some of our early suspensions.”In order to successfully train their staff, 380th EMDG coordinated with other squadrons to make the exercise as realistic as possible.“Just as a public health emergency or an incident of public health concern touches all facets of the base, this exercise was designed to engage all agencies across the wing,” said Cochran. “Most impacted were wing leadership, wing special staff, and the medical group. However, during the table-top review, all four groups and several select expeditionary mission support group and expeditionary operations group squadrons were included to round-out the conversation on recovery operations.”380 EMDG 



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