Webmaster: LCDR Gussio continues to maintain our website. See "Branch News" at http://comilstd.org/fdcoa/ to read about the latest information pertaining to our branch members.

National COA Issues: Nathan Tatum (Environmental Health Officer) is the new National COA board liaison. LCDR Edwards reported that National COA is working to facilitate authorization of the National Defense Service Medal for USPHS.

Military Standards Cadre (MSC)/ Physical Fitness: On behalf of the Ft Detrick COA, LCDR Gussio has formally invited VADM Carmona (the new Surgeon General) to visit Ft Detrick and participate in the Fall (biannual) ‘Espirit de Corps’ day of MSC and physical fitness testing. As outlined in this month’s Commissioned Corps Bulleting (Vol. XVI, No. 9), http://dcp.psc.gov/CCBul.asp VADM Carmona very clearly and strongly conveys his priorities and his expectations. Among these are that every officer must be trained and physically fit. As you know, we are the only COA branch that offers the MSC and physical fitness testing. So let us embrace the challenge. LCDR Gussio will be finalizing the dates in the next couple of weeks.

Hood College continues to make their pool available to officers to train for their physical fitness test swim test. Contact LCDR Nelson nelsonlu@mail.nih.gov to have your name added to the list. Reminder: Swimming is an option on the Navy/CCRF fitness test instead of the 1.5-mile run.

Membership: LCDR Nelson has been in contact with National COA regarding our membership. Apparently many of our officers are not listed correctly in the database and are not appearing on the Ft Detrick branch member roster. She will contact National COA to get more specific guidance on how to rectify this problem, and notify individual officers of their membership status and the corrective actions needed to be taken by the officer.

Professional Relations: CDR Berkhousen reported that Ft Detrick clinic continues to support those officers wishing to obtain clinical time at the Barquist Army Health Clinic.

Agenda Topics/ guest speakers: LCDR Nelson discussed various agenda topics that might be of interest to the group. It was decided that our guest speakers should not be scheduled till Jan ’03, due to the focus on nominations and elections scheduled for the Oct and Nov meetings. Our group was very interested in having Ms Judy Peterson, Disaster Services American Red Cross, Fredrick County come speak to us in Jan ’03. Other potential presenters nominated were Dr John Vitarello, medical consultant for emergency services in Fredrick County to speak on Frederick county preparedness, and CPT Jeffries, JAG officer., to instruct on the UCMJ. Members agreed this talk would be well placed just before the Spring PT in April 2003.

Nomination for executive officers: Nominations for the new executive committee will begin in Oct. LCDR Nelson encouraged all branch members to seek the opportunity to excel by self-nominating or encouraging other officers to this opportunity for a leadership position. Not only is this a position of distinction, but also a darn good CV padder. Contact LCDR Gussio if you are interested by early Nov at gussio@ncifcrf.gov. Members will receive more details in the near future.

Community Service: Many branch members expressed interest in performing community service (as a group) in Fredrick County as a Branch activity. The idea of staffing the local soup kitchen by serving meals was one idea that was supported. CDR Berkhousen will contact various agencies in Fredrick County to obtain information on how our branch can explore and perhaps develop a role in providing community service. Calls for volunteers or further planning will be disseminated to members as this develops. Other ideas were Science Fair judging and Career Day at local high school and colleges (Hood and FCC). CAPT Kreite will pass on information for the Science Fair when he is contacted this year. LCDR Nelson will make first contact with the high schools and colleges for Career Day.

CDR Kriete announced that he was invited to attend the World Veterinarian Conference in Tunisia to present on the topic Animal Welfare Issues.

LCDR McCabe finished a marathon in Alaska and is currently training for a marathon in Disney World. She runs marathons to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and encourages any interested branch members to join her.

LCDR Edwards described his role at FDA in Harrisburg, PA. He stated that his office was currently recruiting for Consumer Safety Officers. Contact him if interested.

LCDR Nelson stated that she was asked to serve as Administrative Officer (AO) for PHS region 3 of the National Nurse Response Team (NNRT), one of ten USPHS lead team of 200 civilian nurses each. There are complimentary pharmacy teams (NPRT) for each of the ten PHS region across the country. They are to train as a team and be prepared to respond in times needing mass prophylaxis and immunization. These teams differ form state teams in that these will be federalized like the National Guard. See http://www.nursingworld.org/news/disaster/response.htm for more information. She will also be presenting at a conference in September in Colorado on her role with the Anthrax deployment and collaboration with the various agencies.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 2025. The next branch meeting will be Oct 9, 2002.

Submitted 9/15/02

CDR Katherine Berkhousen LCDR Lucienne Nelson

Secretary, Ft Detrick Branch COA President, Ft Detrick Branch COA

Berkhousen@cber.fda.gov nelsonlu@mail.nih.gov