Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Adopts New Mission Statement
U.S. Surgeon General Carmona announces new mission for the uniformed cadre of public health professionals he leads. Emergency medical response is a rapidly exapnding role for these public health experts, but will require changes in they way they are organized.
(PRWEB) February 20, 2005 -- After two years of study, U.S. Surgeon General
Richard Carmona today unveiled a new mission statement for the uniformed cadre
of public health professionals he leads. “Protecting, promoting, and advancing
the health and safety of the Nation” is the new Commissioned Corps mission. This
broad mission will be achieved through “rapid and effective response to public
health needs, leadership and excellence in public health practices, and the
advancement of public health science.”
In announcing the new mission,
Rear Admiral Cristina V. Beato, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, and
the Surgeon General note this is an important step in moving forward with the
planned “transformation” of the Corps. The Commissioned Corps is a highly
trained cadre of 6,000 uniformed officers who are experienced, mobile health
professionals working throughout the Department of Health and Human Services as
well as other federal agencies. Along with the five Armed Services and officers
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the PHS
Commissioned Corps is one of the seven federal Uniformed Services.
The
new mission provides formal recognition for what has been, since 9/11, an
expanding role in emergency medical response for the entire Corps. Beato and
Carmona noted that "we have all been carrying out our responsibilities in
support of this mission.” Most recently, several hundred Corps officers were
sent on short notice to Florida to provide emergency public health assistance in
the wake of the September hurricanes. Corps officers are also serving in Iraq
and Afghanistan and onboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy in support off tsunami
relief efforts in Indonesia.
The revised mission also underscores the
important role of this little known Corps of health professionals in providing
expert public health leadership for the Nation. Not too many years ago, the top
leadership positions throughout the federal Public Health Service, at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the National Institutes
for Health in Bethesda and others, were filled by uniformed officers of the
Commissioned Corps of the PHS. Many of these federal agencies were founded by
Corps officers decades ago. Today, only the Indian Health Service still has a
uniformed Corps officer as its Director in RADM Chuck Grim.
Today’s PHS
Commissioned Corps is a far cry from the centralized and dominant public health
service it once was. In order to effectively execute the first part of its new
mission – rapid and effective response – the Corps will have to be thoroughly
overhauled. A new centralized force management system under the direct control
and authority of the Surgeon General will have to be established.
The new
mission statement is an important beginning in the process of transforming this
important national resource; but it is only a beginning. Now the real work of
transforming the Corps must begin in earnest – determining requirements to
fulfill the mission and then matching them against available resources. A
daunting, but vitally important task.
The COA is the professional
association comprised of active duty and retired members of the Commissioned
Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb210523.htm