FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- From periodic health assessments to regular dental exams, every Airman, including those at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, and geographically separated units, should know the importance of maintaining their individual medical readiness at all times.
Medical readiness is a multi-layered, collaborative approach among many Air Force Medical Service teams to ensure each Airman has met the requirements to deploy.
At Hanscom, it is the 66th Medical Squadron Public Health Element that ensures Airmen are medically ready to deploy.
“When an Airman learns they are deploying, their first stop should be to the 66th Medical Squadron,” said Capt. James W. Caviness, Public Health Element chief. “An Airman cannot deploy without being medically cleared first. Public Health is the first and last stop for anything related to medical readiness.”
Maintaining individual medical readiness, or IMR, and medically cleared for deployments are two key components to medical readiness.
“The IMR program is a commander’s program,” said Col. James Mullins, the AFMS Public Health Branch chief. “This means commanders are ultimately responsible for ensuring their Airmen are ready to go for deployment. The Public Health office at each installation keeps records and tracks IMR rates of the local units.”
Hanscom’s Public Health coordinates with the seven clinics within the medical squadron. Public Health officials also coordinate with unit deployment managers at Hanscom and at geographically separated units.
IMR includes immunizations, an annual periodic health assessment, dental readiness, certain laboratory tests such as the biennial HIV test, and individual medical equipment such as prescription gas mask inserts. IMR status functions as a baseline assessment of an Airman’s medical readiness record and medical conditions. These assessments help address any potential conditions that could affect an Airman’s ability to complete their mission or deploy.
In addition to IMR, the Public Health branch manages all the additional requirements that Airmen might need to deploy. This includes health threat briefings on any potential hazards in the area of operations, special immunizations and guidance on illness prevention.
“Through our deployment medical clearance database, Public Health serves as the final check point to make sure Airmen have what they need medically before they are deployed,” said Mullins.
All Airmen must also meet basic physical and medical standards to ensure they are healthy enough to serve and to perform their duties, whether that is in home station or deployed to an austere environment. The AFMS Flight and Operational Medicine team establish these standards.
“It all starts with what are the standards an individual needs to meet in order to serve in the U.S. Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Marie McIntee, chief of Physical Standards Development for the AFMS. “We want everyone to be deployable and healthy enough to do their job, so we do not accept people who do not meet certain, baseline conditions.”
Flight and Operational Medicine teams also set the standards Airmen must meet to perform special duties. Some deployment-specific requirements go beyond IMR, and are specific to geographical location. These come into play prior to deployment and are not part of the in-garrison IMR.
While there are many components to medical readiness, setting baseline medical standards and monitoring IMR are integral in ensuring a unit has the capability to perform their mission and to ensure that the Airmen in that unit are ready to deploy.
“It is vital that all Airmen keep their IMR readiness up, so there is less work to be done to get them ready to deploy,” explained McIntee. “The theory is that if we keep our Airmen ready in-garrison, then we are always able to execute the mission when called on.”
For further information, contact the Public Health Office at Hanscom at 781-225-6295.
(Editor's note: The 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs Office contributed to this article.)