Public Health Service News

The Coast Guard has struggled for years to recruit and retain a sufficient workforce. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the non-partisan, fact-based arm of the Congress, has published multiple reports related to the Coast Guard’s workforce including recruitment and retention challenges. Three of these reports published in 2022 and 2023 have resulted in 17 GAO recommendations to address these issues, but as of today, 16 remain open and need to be addressed. Implementing…

ABS has launched guidance on sanitizing and decontaminating marine and offshore assets exposed to COVID-19, applicable to commercial and naval vessels, as well as drilling units, production installations and other offshore units."Response Measures to COVID-19 for the Marine and Offshore Industries provides best practice guidelines for sanitizing assets exposed to COVID-19 and helps maritime leadership address the many challenges the virus brings," ABS said.The marine and offshore classification company also says that the best practices document helps to answer a range of practical…

On recent routine United States Public Health inspections (USPHI) conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Holland America Line’s ms Statendam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam and ms Ryndam achieved perfect scores of 100. For Statendam, the unannounced inspection was Feb. 19, 2015, at Hilo, Hawaii, during a 30-day Tahiti and Marquesas cruise roundtrip from San Diego. CDC officials surprised Nieuw Amsterdam, on March 1, 2015, at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while preparing for its seven-day Caribbean cruise. Ryndam completed its inspection March 8 in Tampa, Florida, while also getting ready for a seven-day Caribbean cruise. Prior to these inspections, Statendam received a score of 100 in June 2014 during a call at Ketchikan, Alaska.

Holland America Line’s ms Eurodam achieved a perfect score of 100 on a recent routine United States Public Health (USPH) inspection conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This achievement marks the seventh consecutive perfect score for the ship. The unannounced inspection of ms Eurodam was held Oct. 22, 2014, during a call at Boston, Mass. The ship recently repositioned cruise to Fort. Lauderdale, Fla., for its Caribbean season. “To earn a score of 100 on any given public health inspection is fantastic, but to earn seven consecutive perfect scores is beyond extraordinary,” said Richard Meadows, Holland America Line’s executive vice president, sales, marketing and guest programs. During U.S.P.H.

Holland America Line’s ms Statendam and ms Westerdam achieved perfect scores of 100 on recent routine United States Public Health inspections conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The unannounced inspection for ms Statendam was held June 17, 2014, during a call at Ketchikan, Alaska. Westerdam was inspected July 21 during a call at Juneau, Alaska. Both ships were in the middle of sailing seven-day Alaska cruises. “Scoring a perfect 100 on a CDC inspection is a testament to the hard work, knowledge and dedication by both the shipboard staff and those involved in our corporate offices,” said Stein Kruse, chief executive officer, Holland America Group. During a U.S.P.H.

1917-The first Coast Guard aviators graduated from Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School. Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG, became Naval Aviator #38 (and later Coast Guard Aviator #1). 1919-  The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement. 2003- Three Iraqi sailors were captured in the northern Persian Gulf, the first Enemy Prisoners of War (EPOWs) taken by Coast Guard forces deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 24-member crew of the CGC Adak plucked the Iraqi sailors from the sea. The Iraqis had jumped overboard as their patrol boat was destroyed by coalition forces operating in the Gulf.

1878- The last true sailing cutter built for the Revenue Service, Chase (Salmon P. Chase) was completed on 6 August 1878 at the shipyard of Thomas Brown of Philadephia. Barque-rigged, Chase displaced 142 tons and served as a cadet "practice vessel" for nearly 30 years before being decommissioned and transferred to the U.S. Public Health Service. 1918-The first American lightship to be sunk by enemy action, Lightship No. 71, was lost on her Diamond Shoals station. LS 71 had reported by radio the presence of a German submarine which had sunk a passing freighter. That message was intercepted by the submarine U-104, which then located the lightship and, after giving the crew opportunity to abandon ship in the boats, sank LS 71 by surface gunfire.

1914-Congress authorized the Secretary of Treasury to "detail for duty on revenue cutters such surgeons and other persons of the Public Health Service as … necessary" and for cutters with such medical personnel aboard to extend medical and surgical aid to crews of American vessels engaged in deep sea fisheries. This Act of Congress (38 Stat. L., 387) regularized procurement and assignment procedures of Public Health Service personnel to revenue cutters, launching a partnership between the two services that survives to this day. 1995- The cutter CGC Juniper was launched, the first of the new 225-foot Juniper Class buoy tenders.

1917-The first Coast Guard aviators graduated from Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School. Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG, became Naval Aviator #38 (and later Coast Guard Aviator #1). 1919-  The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement. 2003- Three Iraqi sailors were captured in the northern Persian Gulf, the first Enemy Prisoners of War (EPOWs) taken by Coast Guard forces deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 24-member crew of the CGC Adak plucked the Iraqi sailors from the sea. The Iraqis had jumped overboard as their patrol boat was destroyed by coalition forces operating in the Gulf.

The Costa Atlantica, a member of the Costa Cruises fleet, the largest Italian travel company and Europe’s n.1 cruise line, scored full marks (100) in a recent inspection conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. The inspection was held on September 26 during a stopover in New York, one of the port calls of the Costa Atlantica during the latter part of her transatlantic cruise, which departed on September 16 from Savona and ended on October 3 in Quebec City (Canada). The CDC inspections are part of the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), which was introduced in the early 1970s and involves all ships that stop in a US port. They are unannounced events and are carried out by officials from the USPHS (United States Public Health Service) twice a year.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced ongoing actions to reduce processing time for mariner credentials. The National Maritime Center, the Coast Guard's new centralized mariner credentialing processing facility in Martinsburg, W.Va., consolidated the Mariner Licensing and Documentation program that was performed in the 17 Regional Examination Centers throughout the nation approximately one year ago. The NMC receives mariners applications and conducts detailed evaluations to ensure the mariners' meet applicable requirements for the credentials sought. All mariners are evaluated in three areas including a professional qualification evaluation, a safety and security evaluation, and a medical evaluation.

The U.S. Coast Guard, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Government are working together to coordinate a one-day full-scale Caribbean Mass Rescue Operation Exercise in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on Aug. Since 2002, Coast Guard passenger vessel safety specialists from around the United States have been working together with the passenger vessel operators to develop standardized procedures for managing a mass rescue operation. Through meetings and a series of exercises, the participants learn about each others' capabilities, identify best response practices and are establishing standardized procedures to help ensure maximum effectiveness. NCL volunteered to be the lead cruise line in this exercise to assist the Coast Guard in their emergency preparedness efforts.

society RINA to train its newbuilding superintendents. (United States Public Health Service) requirements. specialist courses that will cover specific fields in more detail. superintendents in service. centre, in Genoa.

After caring for more than 55,000 patients in Belize, Guatemala and Panama, hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arrived in Corinto on July 18, continuing its four-month humanitarian assistance deployment. U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, U.S. Public Health Service, Canadian Forces, and Operation Smile and Project Hope personnel will continue providing the people of Latin America and the Caribbean with no-cost health care services, including adult and pediatric primary care, dental care, optometry and other services while in Nicaragua. More than 30 "Operation Smile" personnel will board the ship here to conduct cleft lip and cleft palate operations aboard Comfort.

In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives on the matter of Cruise Ship Safety, U.S. coast Guard Rear Admiral Robert C. North, Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety and Environmental Protection, made some interesting observations. Central to his testimony, however, was a call for support of the USCG Deepwater recapitalization of cutters, aircraft and CFISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, sensors, and reconnaissance), a bolstering of assets critical to offshore rescue operations, particularly if the offloading of thousands of passengers from today's large cruise ships, was ever needed. Following are select quotes from his testimony. •"Much of the history of the regulation of maritime safety has been reactive — disasters followed by legislation.

President Bill Clinton recently granted a pardon clearing the name of Freddie Meeks, an 80-year-old black man convicted of mutiny in a 1944 wartime incident with racial overtones. Meeks' presidential pardon was among 37 granted in a traditional Christmas practice. Five of the pardons were for crimes involving the illegal importing or sale of marijuana. Meeks, as a navy seaman second class, was at the Port Chicago munitions base near San Francisco on July 17, 1944, when a huge explosion killed 320 men, most of them African- American sailors who were loading ammunition onto ships. It was the worst U.S. home-front disaster of the Second World War. Black sailors were ordered after the accident to pick up the pieces of dismembered bodies, then resume loading.

Despite a rash of failures at sea and high-profile legal cases regarding illegal dumping, cruise shipping remains one of the safest and environmentally conscious modes of transportation available, according to a recently released report. The International Council of Cruise Lines cited the General Accounting Office (GAO) Report released to Congress as acknowledgement of the high degree of compliance by the cruise industry with U.S. environmental regulations. The GAO report, "Fewer Incidents by Cruise Ships Reported, But Important Issues Remain,'' states that, during the period from 1993-1998, the U.S. Coast Guard recorded 2,395 illegal discharges from all non-U.S. vessels, of which only 87 were from passenger ships.

The new 88,500-ton Carnival Legend scored perfect 100s from both the U.S. Department of Public Health and Canadian Public Health Service during inspections in Baltimore and Halifax, Nova Scotia, earlier this month. The new 2,124-passenger vessel, which entered service in August 2002 and embarked on a six-day Bermuda cruise from Baltimore yesterday, Oct. 30, received perfect marks on all 42 items that comprise the U.S. encompass the Health Canada's Cruise Ship Inspection Guide. U.S. and overall cleanliness of the galley and other shipboard areas. The potable water supply used in spas and pools is also examined. "While Carnival ships consistently receive high public health inspection marks, perfect scores are quite rare. perfect marks from both U.S.