HAWC is now Health Promotion Flight Published Oct. 9, 2014 By Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- As of Oct. 1, the Scott Health and Wellness Center became the Health Promotion Flight. Earlier this year, the Air Force announced that Health and Wellness Centers would undergo a transformation by the end of 2015 in order to strengthen a healthier culture that aligns with the Air Force Surgeon General's vision of being the healthiest and highest performing group in the United States by 2025. The Air Force is "simply retiring" the term Health and Wellness Center and changing it to the Health Promotion Flight, while adopting a standard model that includes a health promotion coordinator, and in most cases, a dietitian, according to Col. John Oh, Air Force Medical Support Agency Chief of Health Promotion in a recent news article. In the article, Oh commented, "The new flight's mission is the art and science of making healthy behavior the obvious choice through education, the available choice through policy, and the popular choice through marketing and community engagement. We need to move from health care to health. We need to go beyond just great clinical care, which should be a given. I think it's a different mindset. That's where we're trying to go with this. The bar is raised when dealing with trying to do more with less. We need to have a workforce that is healthy, fit and resilient and operate in a culture and environment where health is just what we do." The original mission of the HAWC was primarily focused on health and fitness improvement concepts and programs. Now the 375th Medical Group's role will be more about education and awareness rather than developing fitness programs such as the previous Physical Training Leader, or PTL, course training or remediation classes for those who failed their fitness test. The new goal of the program is to promote changes through communication and policy, for example marketing campaigns through social media, and helping leaders and medics to enforce a healthy lifestyle with content provided by the HPF. Heather Braundmeier, Health Promotions Flight Commander, said, "We will continue to focus on building a culture of health across the base community with a new mission that involves coordinating, evaluating, and promoting installation specific evidence-based interventions that support healthy behavior change to optimize health and resilience." She explained that in the past five years the Scott HAWC has been reduced to five positions and will be reduced to two positions by 2016, and that most bases in the Air Force will only have a dietitian and health promotion coordinator assigned. Some of the popular programs that were run by an exercise physiologist included exercise prescriptions for members on medical profiles, Be Well Running Clinic, Be Well Strength Clinic, Prenatal Fitness, Pain Free Running Class, gait analysis, NAF lift test, body fat analysis using BOD POD or skin fold calipers, body gem, Incentive weight loss programs: Health Trails, Biggest Loser, Get Fit on Route 66, Commanders Call sports medicine briefings, Physical Training Leader classes, Unit Fitness Program Manager classes, to name a few. She said they are working with wing leadership and looking to partner with other agencies to try to continue as many programs as possible, but for now they will remain focused on "communicating to the base populace using briefings and classes on how to live a healthy life." She added that the dietician will still offer one-on-one assistance but everything will be on a schedule. Although the Health Promotion mission is changing, the staff looks forward to offering the same courteous care throughout and beyond their transition, she said. The contact number for the HP Flight remains 256-7139 and the office will still be located on the second floor of the fitness center.