The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) announced May 16, that 681 Navy and Marine Corps organizations received the 2016 Blue H - Navy Surgeon General's Health Promotion and Wellness Award.

The 2016 winners highlighted in the Navy Surgeon General's message include nine U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, 58 Navy flying squadrons, 45 surface ships or surface forces units, 80 Navy medical treatment facilities, eight Marine Corps Semper Fit Centers, 58 Marine Corps commands and 111 Navy Reserve Operational Support Centers.

All Navy commands and Marine Corps Semper Fit Programs can apply for the award and 2016 participation levels set a record for the tenth year in a row. The award is earned at three levels - Gold Star, Silver Eagle and Bronze Anchor, and every applicant receives at least the Bronze Anchor.

The Blue H program, managed by NMCPHC, encourages and rewards the promotion primary prevention policies and activities in Department of the Navy (DON) workplaces, communities, and medical treatment facilities that are critical to maintaining a fit and ready force.

Improving healthy lifestyles of Sailors and Marines also enhances individual quality of life and reduces long-term health care costs. Health topics covered by Blue H criteria include responsible drinking, injury and violence-free living, healthy eating, active living, psychological health, sexual health, tobacco-free living and weight management.

"Improving healthy lifestyles of Sailors and Marines in the workplace and community can enhances health, but can also affect individual quality of life, organizational morale and reduce long-term health care costs," said Michael (Bob) MacDonald, Blue H Project Manager. "The Blue H criteria provide a cookbook for activities, materials, policies and target objectives for health promotion programs, and this ready-to-use format is especially helpful for collateral-duty health promotion coordinators."

The Blue H is organized into four distinct criteria sets: Fleet, Marine Corps Command, Medical Treatment Facility, and Semper Fit Center Health Promotion Programs. The Fleet and Marine Corps Command versions of the Blue H recognizes excellence in workplace prevention policies, activities and outcomes for non-medical Navy and Marine Corps commands. The Medical version recognizes excellence in clinical prevention, community health promotion and medical staff health in Navy medical organizations. The Semper Fit version recognizes excellence in community-level prevention activities conducted by Marine Corps Semper Fit Centers.

View the complete list of 2016 Blue H winners and the criteria for the 2017 Blue H Award at: http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcphc/health-promotion/Pages/blue-h.aspx

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