{"id":66467,"date":"2019-03-20T00:51:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T00:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/20\/is-anybody-tracking-health-issues-from-mold-and-other-military-housing-hazards\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:38:34","slug":"is-anybody-tracking-health-issues-from-mold-and-other-military-housing-hazards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2019\/03\/20\/is-anybody-tracking-health-issues-from-mold-and-other-military-housing-hazards\/","title":{"rendered":"Is anybody tracking health issues from mold and other military housing hazards?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Military family advocates are questioning whether officials are tracking and treating the health issues that are linked to their military housing rife with mold, rodent infestation, lead paint, <\/a>and other issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issues with these problems in military housing<\/a> started with families\u2019 concerns about health, noted Karen Ruedisueli, deputy government relations director for the National Military Family Association. \u201cIt does seem that some families were exposed to some hazardous issues within their installation housing,\u201d she said during a Tuesday meeting of the DoD Military Family Readiness Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That association would like to see a collaboration of the Defense Health Agency with housing officials, \u201cto make sure that families who believe they are suffering ill health effects as a result of their housing health hazards, are receiving appropriate treatment, either in the direct care system or in the civilian network of providers,\u201d said Ruedisueli, a member of the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoD is collecting data on the health effects, said Dr. Terry Adirim, deputy assistant secretary of defense for health services policy and oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, a team of DoD\u2019s housing and environmental staff and the Defense Health Agency\u2019s public health staff is looking at the issue to determine whether there are gaps in policies and procedures, she said, and whether a more expansive risk assessment is needed for children who are beneficiaries in the DoD health care system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team is also looking at the process through which children\u2019s toxic blood levels get reported to installation public health officials, Adirim said. Council member Dr. David Rubin, of Children\u2019s Hospital Association, noted that if a child living on base has an elevated lead level and is living on the installation, that probably indicates a risk to other children living on the installation, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoD housing officials are also looking at their processes to make sure residents understand their options to talk to the medical team on the installation any time they have a concern about their housing, regardless of whether they live on or off the base, said Pat Coury, principal director for facilities and housing in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment. \u201cThe housing office should be helping direct them to the right people,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to be sure everyone understands the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some families have reported that even after they visited their military health care providers and those providers wrote letters about the need for the problems to be fixed because of a health hazard, or the family should be moved, the housing companies didn\u2019t act.<\/p>\n\n\n\t