AOCOPM 2024 Midyear Educational Conference-346719

346719 - Article 1

Pdf Summary

The document is a presentation by Lt Col Scott Everson of the Air Force Medical Agency, highlighting updates in Military Occupational Medicine and focusing on various initiatives and historical and current occupational exposures affecting veterans. The presentation, dated March 20, 2024, emphasizes that the insights are personal opinions and not official policies of the Department of Defense or related entities. Key discussion points include:

1. <strong>Objectives</strong>: The presentation aims to review both past and ongoing initiatives by the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA), understand the organizational structure of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) within the DoD, describe the transition to the Defense Health Agency, and outline the future direction of OEM in the DoD.

2. <strong>Previous and Current Initiatives</strong>: Several initiatives target historical exposure events affecting veterans, such as:
   - <strong>Atomic Veterans and the Operation Tomodachi Registry</strong>: Efforts center around providing veterans affected by nuclear tests with radiation dose estimates for compensatory purposes.
   - <strong>Agent Orange Exposure</strong>: Following a 2019 law, VA began compensating Blue Water Navy veterans from the Vietnam War, processing numerous claims and identifying impacted ships through digitized records.
   - <strong>Karshi-Khanabad Air Base Study</strong>: Epidemiological studies are underway to assess health outcomes for veterans deployed to Uzbekistan, focusing on morbidity and mortality.

3. <strong>ILER (Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record)</strong>: A critical tool for linking data on service members' exposures, enabling effective health care continuity and ensuring that data on exposures is comprehensive and easily accessible for demographic analysis.

The document details various efforts and studies designed to identify, quantify, and provide compensation for occupational hazards experienced by military personnel, aiming to improve health outcomes and policy responses for veterans.

Keywords

Military Occupational Medicine

Air Force Medical Agency

Occupational Exposures

Veterans

Defense Health Agency

Atomic Veterans

Agent Orange Exposure

Karshi-Khanabad Air Base

Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record

Veterans Affairs