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IMCOM and MEDCOM team up to promote healthy lifestyles at local fair

 

By Robert Dozier

U.S. Army Installation Management Command

 

Joint Base San Antonio (May 3, 2017) - - The U.S. Army Installation Management Command, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Medical Command and the Family Readiness Center on JBSA, held their Health and Wellness Fair at the Jimmy Brought Fitness Gym on Fort Sam Houston, to increase awareness of the importance of better lifestyle choices for Soldiers and Civilians. More than 150 attendees were presented with various health and wellness related topics.

 

“We’ve got booths from the AMEDD center school, from BAMC, the 502d Health and Family Readiness Center, Army Research Laboratory, the Public Health Center, and the IMCOM Chaplain's office,” said Col. Pauline Gross, IMCOM Command Surgeon. “We also have physicians and folks from Lackland AFB talking about sleep apnea and sleep hygiene, and things you can change in your life to make sure you sleep better.”

 

Student nurses from the AMEDD School set up several booths and demonstrations aligned with the Army’s performance triad, to highlight ways to get back to the basics of health, particularly sleep, activity and nutrition. Also represented were Health Promotion Nurses, the JBSA Army Wellness Center, Dental School students talking about dental hygiene, Financial and Spiritual Wellness and the Soldier For Life program.

 

“Don’t forget about the veterinarian adoption program,” added Paul Smith, IMCOM G1 Wellness Coordinator. “These are our both working dogs who’ve served their (Army) purpose and puppies, and are moving on be adopted by a family. In addition, the Puppy Foster Volunteer Program looks for loving families to care for their dogs until they are old enough to become military working dogs or to retire from their service to DoD.

 

 

AMEDD also sent folks from the 6AF – Military Prevention Medicine.

 

“Those [medical] students are talking about blood pressure control, water safety, cholesterol, what types of food to eat, how to buy food with the right ingredients,” said Gross. "I have my activities folks walking, now let's educate them about what they can put into their bodies.”

 

The performance triad is not about new programs or post-modern science. It is a way to focus on the core truths about how to manage fitness today.

 

“We want them to learn about the programs, that they can make little changes in their life to become healthy,” said Gross. “To lose weight and so on, we want them to make changes in moderation, so they will be more likely to follow that and continue on those lifestyle changes.”

 

“It is a legacy for a longer life. As a society, we are living longer and working until an age of 70 is not so strange anymore,” said Smith. “To live better is a matter of simply changing your behavior now.”

 

“I realize that in order to stay active at an older age, I want to convince others to start at a younger age,” said Gross. “As a PA [Physician’s Assistant], I want people to live a healthier life. I don’t want to see them when they are sick. I believe in prevention. I know that what I’ve done [here today] will help them live a healthy lifestyle.”

 

“I have twin 6 year-olds. I want to fine tune their behavior for keeping active, eating right and getting plenty of sleep before we see them off to college. Living longer means something,” said Smith. “Living an active life lets me be a role model for them and for the work force I serve.

 

“I am inspired by the hope of inventor Thomas Edison, who predicted ‘the doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest patients in the care of the human frame, in proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.’”

 

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