THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070530
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 53 lines
More than 2,000 medical doctors and corpsmen from around the world, representing the Navy's equivalent of a public health department, will converge on Virginia Beach this weekend for courses in everything from HIV instruction to malaria prevention.
The 38th Navy Occupational Health and Preventive Medicine Workshop, being held at the Sheraton Oceanfront and the Cavalier hotels, draws medical personnel from as far as the Netherlands and Germany, and from every state in the country.
``It's our job to keep the fleet and the ground forces ready to fight by anticipating and preventing illness and injury,'' said Cmdr. Mark Olesen, workshop director and occupational medicine specialist.
These are the people, he said, who identify disease threats carried by insects and animals in areas where sailors and Marines are deployed, ensure safety in the workplace and attempt to change individual lifestyles to promote better health.
This year's theme is readiness, Olesen said. ``It fits in very nicely with our turn towards (health) prevention,'' he said. ``We're re-emphasizing our role in supporting operational readiness by preventing disease and injury.''
The conference emphasizes three main areas, Olesen said: health promotion, operational prevention and and population-based medicine.
Health promotion, he said, ``is really where the rubber meets the road.'' It's how an individual's behavior affects his health and the health of his community. Conference courses in this area include weight-loss strategies, improving lifestyle habits, and nutrition.
``We put a great deal of emphasis on very practical information for attendees that they can carry to the communities they serve,'' Olesen said.
Operational prevention focuses on measures to prevent injuries and illnesses, including ways to manage personnel working in extreme heat and cold.
Population-based medicine is a relatively new field, Olesen said. ``It's where we help line commanders, hospital commanders and other people with responsibility for large groups of people, assess the health problems for their particular group of people and help them make decisions about how to best deal with them. For example, a command of older individuals might need more training in heart disease prevention and smoking cessation. A platoon of young Marines, however, are more prone to injuries and car accidents.
``So the approach you take to those two groups is different if you want to maintain them at optimal health.'' MEMO: The conference begins Saturday and runs through Friday, Feb. 14.
The keynote speaker, Vice Adm. Vern Clark, 2nd Fleet commander, will
speak at 9 a.m. Monday. His address will focus on how the Navy's medical
corps can best support its sailors.