BÖBLINGEN, Germany -- Marines and sailors from Marine Forces Europe (MFE) participated in a medical and dental readiness event here Sept. 18, in an effort to maximize command preparedness and increase combat effectiveness.
A team of medical professionals from the Stuttgart Army Health Clinic and Heidelberg Dental Activity’s Mobile Dental Clinic mobilized to the MFE headquarters to provide a convenient and efficient opportunity for the Marines to increase force health protection and readiness.
With the support of the soldiers, the Marines were able to update individual medical and dental records, improve their welfare and safety, and prevent lost productivity by not having to leave the headquarters building.
“Medical readiness and force health protection requirements are a mandated requirement by higher authorities so Marines and sailors stay strong and healthy,” said Navy Lt. James George, MFE medical planner. “By keeping up with these mandated medical and dental requirements we’re contributing to our combat effectiveness.”
In order to meet and exceed Department of Defense and other higher headquarters mandates, George said a lot of planning and coordination went into providing the MFE staff with a convenient and easy way to maintain high levels of readiness.
“We methodically review everyone’s health records to identify individual medical requirements and annotate what they will need done within the next 90 days,” George said. “When the day is over and all the requirements have been met, we begin to populate the Medical Readiness Reporting System database, so the commander can asses the readiness of our unit.”
For a unit like MFE, whose Marines are regularly engaged in numerous countries throughout the European and African continents in a variety of roles, George said medical and dental readiness is vital to mission accomplishment.
“Our efforts today contribute very much to the big picture by keeping Marines and sailors healthy so they can execute missions in austere environments and remain healthy and protected from potentially deadly diseases and illnesses,” George said.
Although it’s one thing to bring the medical professionals and equipment necessary to provide the medical services right to the Marines, the readiness event was also able to bring the dental clinic right to the front door of the MFE headquarters building.
The Heidelberg Dental Activity’s mobile dental clinic, a coach style bus converted into a fully functional dental clinic, provided the ability for MFE Marines and sailors to fulfill all of their dental requirements.
“(The mobile clinic) is able to travel all over the European theater to support units in their dental readiness mission,” said Army Staff Sgt. Richard Bisball, mobile dental clinic noncommissioned-officer-in-charge.
Bisball said the mobile clinic is equipped and manned to provide the routine dental examinations, procedures and cleanings that are required for service members to obtain the appropriate dental readiness classification.
Overall, George said the event was a convenient and efficient way to accomplish the important missions of medical readiness and force health protections.
“Medical readiness is about preventive medicine and keeping our people healthy and able to accomplish their missions,” George said. “Our overall goal was to significantly increase our medical and dental readiness, and with the help of mobile medical and dental team, we were able to do just that.”