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Minot medics win Air Force Team Excellence Award

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jose L. Hernandez
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz recently awarded a team of Minot AFB medics with the 2011 Air Force Team Excellence Award, as well as the Air Force Best Practice Award.

The team competed against 22 teams Air Force-wide and consisted of bioenvironmental engineers (BEE's) from the 5th Medical Operations Squadron who focused on Preventing the Next Gulf War Syndrome through Revolutionized Health Risk Reporting. Only five teams were given this highest honor during the Air Force Association's 2011 Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington D.C. Sept. 20. The Minot BEEs were the only team representing Air Force Global Strike Command.

"We received many kudos from the judges, and General Schwartz himself paid special tribute to the challenges the Minot community recently faced during the flood," said Lt. Col. Joseph Silvers, Minot BEE flight commander and presenter at the awards competition.

The team of medics was presented the award for their ingenuity in creating a high-tech reporting system which allowed the Air Force to better define health risks and personnel exposures for both deployed and in-garrison forces.

The Department of Defense's information system, which was created after the Gulf War to track a service member's environmental exposure data, had significant gaps that were impeding the Air Force's ability to manage health risks and document and report exposure information.

The team's reporting solution was so advanced that in only 12 months, their business practices were adopted by 32 Air Force installations, and it literally re-shaped the DOD's occupational and environmental health program.

"There are no comparable reports in any other DOD system," said Master Sgt. Loretta Fisher, one of the Minot presenters at the Air Force team competition.

The award was given to Airmen who used systematic approaches in order to enhance mission capability, improve operational performance and create sustained results.