Navy Public Health Team Provides Valuable Site Assessment to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit (NEPMU) 2 and the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) joined forces to conduct an Occupational and Environmental Health Site Assessment (OEHSA) at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Africa, Nov. 8-20.

Public health professionals from NEPMU-2 and NMCPHC traveled to Camp Lemonnier to fulfill a Commander Naval Installation Command (CNIC) request for the assessment, in preparation for the camp's transition from an expeditionary facility to an enduring base.

The purpose of the OEHSA was to identify environmental conditions at Camp Lemonnier that could affect the health of military personnel who deploy there and provide recommendations to the commanding officer about methods to reduce any health risks.

According to Steve Sorgen, an environmental health scientist and the team's leader from NMCPHC, the OEHSA is an all-hazards assessment to help ensure and sustain readiness.

"We evaluate environmental conditions associated with current and past uses of a site as well as offsite sources of environmental contaminants," said Sorgen. "We determine when, where and how exposures to environmental stressors could occur and describe the exposure pathways associated with each source."

"Each complete or potentially complete exposure pathway is further evaluated by environmental sampling to determine what, if any, health risk exists," said Ned Berg, NMCPHC industrial hygienist and team member.

Disease vectors and workplace exposures are also included in the assessment.

"The most important part of the OEHSA was identifying and assessing any environmental and/or occupational stressors that could affect the health of deployed personnel," said Lt. j.g. Victor Camaya, NEPMU-2. "Area noise dosimetry was one of the parameters I assessed while there. It is important to identify areas where personnel should be wearing hearing protection."

Overall, the partnership led to an affective, thorough assessment.

"It was great to go with teammates like Steve Sorgen and Ned Berg," said Lt.j.g. Nii Adjei Oninku, member of NEPMU-2. "It was nice to have many people with different viewpoints, and to learn how to ask questions without being intrusive."

The group was able to analyze all potential environmental and occupational hazards in under two weeks.

NEPMU-2 and NMCPHC are part of the Navy Medicine team, a global health care network of Navy medical personnel around the world who provide high-quality health care to more than one million eligible beneficiaries. Navy Medicine personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.

For more information on Navy public health, please visit www.nmcphc.med.navy.mil.


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