Maintaining health is commonly a problem for service members and their households, however COVID-19 wreaked havoc with health routines and the Defense Health Agency wish to get folks again on monitor. 

The spouses of the senior enlisted leaders of the power not too long ago visited the Armed Forces Wellness Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to look at the choices on the middle and see how they apply to service members, their households and DOD civilians.

The Wellness Centers started as an Army program in 2008 and has since expanded to all providers, officers stated. They designed this system to “provide healthy behavior change through science-based education, coaching and technology for service members, their families, military retirees and DOD civilians,” Nicole Leth, the director of the Fort Belvoir Armed Forces Wellness Center, stated. 

The Armed Forces Wellness Center is a key to making sure higher well being to all who use it. “The key takeaways from this visit focused on the preventive side of our lifestyles, by creating awareness and ensuring accountability for ourselves,” stated Janet Colón, the partner of Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman Ramón “CZ” Colón-López. “Nicole and her team help to develop wellness plans that will generate the healthy lifestyles that our service members and their families need to cope with the stresses of military life. Hats off to the Armed Forces Wellness Center team for their care and commitment to our forces.”

Leth defined in a later interview that the courses within the present 35 Armed Forces Wellness Centers are the identical. “A service member as they … move to different locations, will receive consistent service,” she stated. “They’re getting the same assessments, the same care and the same education. It makes it nice for continuity of care.” 

The middle has superior expertise that may assess fat-free mass in kilos after which general physique fats proportion, Leth stated. “And while that scares some people, that’s really helpful.” 

The steady monitoring can also present those that use the Armed Forces Wellness Center that in the event that they make life-style adjustments, they’ll see how they’re shifting their physique fats proportion in a wholesome path, Leth stated. 

“We also do metabolic testing, so we can test your resting metabolic rate,” she stated. “And then we add in your lifestyle, your exercise calorie burn that you report to us, and then we can give you a targeted calorie goal based on your desired outcome.” 

The middle additionally does health testing to find out respiratory health ranges. “It can be a good way to know where you’re at for your cardio-vascular health,” Leth stated. 

Leth harassed that the Armed Forces Wellness Centers are open to all, and whereas probably the most are on Army bases now, they quickly will probably be unfold throughout the joint power. It can also be vital that relations participate. “We’re really messaging how important taking care of our family members and our spouses is to warfighter readiness,” she stated. “I’m a military spouse myself of 18 years. My husband has been in for a little over 25 years. It is important that if he has health and wellness goals that he’s trying to get after, then family members really have to be on board with that too.”