(BOP) - The United States Public Health Service (USPHS) works around the world to combat diseases such as Ebola, and to respond to natural disasters by providing medical, mental health and support services. The USPHS also promotes initiatives aimed at improving health and wellness on behalf of the Surgeon General of the United States. Over eighty years ago, in legislation creating the Bureau of Prisons (Bureau), the USPHS was charged with providing medical care in federal prisons. Inmate health care is no longer exclusively the responsibility of the USPHS, but the mutually beneficial partnership remains and is vital to meeting the Bureau’s mission.
Today, on behalf of the President of the United States and the United Nations, the USPHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are at the forefront of the effort to stop the spread of Ebola at its source in West Africa. Four teams of USPHS Officers, including Officers from the Bureau of Prisons, are being deployed to Liberia as a part of this medical mission.
The first team of USPHS Officers deployed included 12 Officers from the Bureau. They worked with the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish a 25 bed field hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. The Bureau Officers returned to the United States in mid-December, and following a precautionary symptom screening period have returned to their institutions.
A second team of USPHS Officers was led by the Bureau of Prisons' Assistant Director for Health Services, RADM Newton E. Kendig and included 10 Officers from the Bureau. RADM Kendig was responsible for coordinating activities with USAID, the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, DOD, CDC, and local governments. The second team is expected to return to the United States in early February and will return to work following the symptom screening period.
In late January, a third team of 11 USPHS Officers from the Bureau deployed. A fourth and final team is being assembled, and after that the USPHS will end their current role in Liberia on or before May 1, 2015.
Thanks to all the USPHS Officers who are working to end the Ebola epidemic.