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Public Health prevents illness and promotes safety

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua Eikren
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Protecting yourself from sickness is a day to day job of eating right, practicing good hygiene and working on your physical fitness, but in the Air Force, there is a job field that works to be an extra set of eyes on our Airmen and their families.

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, injury prevention, detection and control of infectious diseases, and research for disease.

"Public Health in the Air Force is similar to the Health Department in the civilian sector," said Staff Sgt. Brandy Hamm, 375th Aerospace Medicine Squadron NCOIC, Preventable Health Assessment Cell. "Our main goal is to prevent the spread of disease and educate the base populous on proper food handling, communicable diseases, hearing protection, and fetal protection."

At Scott, Public Health covers a wide range of areas that include Preventive Health Assessments, Communicable Diseases, Entomology, Food Safety and Sanitation, Deployment Health and Occupational Health.

"Public Health is important, because our job is to educate and help prevent illness, workplace exposures, and to ensure all members meet the medical requirements to deploy," said Hamm. "Personally, Public Health means safety -food, workplace, and pregnancy safety."

On an average day, they review 30 WebHA's, educate numerous patients on communicable diseases, monitor the mosquito population (in the warmer months), and inspect all food and public facilities on the installation.

"We also review medical records for all members tasked to deploy, conduct audiograms for those members on the Hearing Conservation Program, and also initiate all pregnancy profiles for the Fetal Protection Program," said Hamm.

Hamm adds that she finds the career field enjoyable because of the range of duty that gives her a chance to work with different services and civilians on base.

"Professionally, working in Public Health has taught me how to look outside the box, because not everything in our job is black and white," said Hamm. "There are so many 'what ifs' that it's hard to always have a set approach on how to complete a task. Also, it has afforded me the opportunities to expand my scope of responsibility to more than just myself. It has taught me to step outside of my comfort zone to teach and take on leadership roles."

Beyond helping the base, she uses her experience to connect and grow with her Airman.

"The one thing that keeps me motivated each day is the Airmen I work alongside," said Hamm. "I learn something new each day from all of them and appreciate the hard work they put in day in and day out."