Health and Safety

Summer months carry the threat of severe storms and tornados in our area. Take a few moments to consider how well you are prepared in the event of a tornado warning.

The time to prepare for a tornado is before it happens. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides information on how to prepare and what to do in the event of a tornado. Take a few moments to read the important safety information FEMA has assembled: http://www.ready.gov/tornadoes.

Sign Up for Text Alerts from Frederick County

You can also sign up for text alerts to your cell phone from Frederick County at http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/ALERT.

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

Kevin Zecher, a maintenance mechanic in Facilities Maintenance and Engineering, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., hasn’t missed a double-red cell donation at a blood drive at NCI at Frederick in four years.

He marks the time by his first granddaughter’s birth—that’s when he first decided to donate more than whole blood.

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

The chilly weather didn’t dampen the spirits of Take a Hike Day participants on Wednesday, April 2. Over 50 employees braved cool, misty weather to walk or jog around Fort Detrick during their lunch hours.

“The Take a Hike Day is [a way] to encourage everyone to get up and get moving,” said Sarah Hooper, RN, manager of Occupational Health Services (OHS). “OHS and the R&W partnered to encourage employees to engage in physical activity to improve their health.”

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

Terri Bray believes that talking to people is the only way to find out what they need to accomplish their goals in a safe and secure environment.

By Ashley DeVine, Staff Writer

Occupational Health Services and the Recreation and Welfare (R&W) Club Frederick teamed up for the first Take a Hike Day at NCI at Frederick on November 21.

Employees were encouraged to hike, walk, jog, or run the 1.3-mile course around Fort Detrick.

“For those employees who walk all the time, the event gave them a partner to walk with, and for those that do not walk all the time, it gave inspiration that 1.3 miles was not a formidable distance,” said Sarah Hooper, manager of Occupational Health Services.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

Janine Bahsali and Esther Shafer are Middletown High School seniors who go to school in the morning and spend their afternoons taking blood pressure, assisting with physical exams, learning how to draw a blood sample and stitch a wound closed, and generally assisting the staff of Occupational Health Services (OHS), a health care department serving more than 2,000 employees at NCI at Frederick.

By Theresa Bell, Guest Writer

If you work in a laboratory, or you have contact with animals or animal materials, you work with human biomaterials or infectious agents, or you are exposed to radiation or other hazards in your day-to-day duties, you should be enrolled in the appropriate medical surveillance program.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

When Shawn Kelly found out last year that he had high blood pressure, he was determined to do something about it. Luckily for Kelly, an instrumentation technician III, Facilities Maintenance and Engineering, he works at the Advanced Technology Research Facility (ATRF), where he can take advantage of the gym there, known as the Wellness Center.