Greetings Aurora Borealis COA,
I am forwarding information from the Commissioned Corps Officers Association Board of Directors. Please see the attached document for August information regarding advocacy and government related topics. Below you will find a few highlights.
COA advocates for Commissioned Corps officers on every level: parity with our sister services, inclusion in annual authorization acts, education, and scholarships. COA directly supports and advocates for all officers. If you are not a member, consider joining and maintaining membership as this is an organization that directly benefits the Corps.
Expiring Leave:
Over the summer, staff at the Commissioned Officers Association heard from many officers who were frustrated that the problem of expiring leave wasn’t being addressed in Washington. With multiple deployments and round-the-clock service on the front lines of the COVID pandemic, officers couldn’t take annual leave and carryover leave was capped at 60 days. And unlike the other uniformed services, which had regulatory authority to change their own leave policies, fixing the Commissioned Corps leave problem required congressional action.
At COA, we’re always ready to fight for you on Capitol Hill. We drafted specific language to be inserted into the Continuing Resolution (CR) that we knew was the only legislation likely to be passed by September 30th. We held multiple meetings in members’ offices in the House and Senate to fight for parity and lobby on your behalf.
That CR was passed by the House on September 22nd and has just passed in the Senate today, September 30th. The President is expected to sign the bill by midnight tonight. As we’ve done before, COA made the difference and stepped in to protect your benefits!
This is a big win for you and for COA and is just one more example of your dues in action! The Board of Directors personally contacted Officers with expired memberships and also coordinated efforts with local branches. If you have any questions on the status of your membership please connect with the Membership Committee and Executive Committee.
COF President’s Corner- Exploring the Future of Public Health by RADM Steve Solomon, USPHS Ret. Pg 4
With your help, we can begin to explore ideas about the future of public health post-COVID and develop a strategy for constructively contributing to what will be a long and complex debate about policies and programs that will determine how governments at the Federal, state and local levels can fulfill their public health mission. Please send your ideas, your suggestions, your concerns and your observations to Frontline@coausphs.org, with the subject line “Future of Public Health”, so we can begin to think together about where public health needs to go next and how we might get there. Updates about this conversation will be published in future issues of Frontline and posted, starting next month, on the COF website
Continue to glance in Frontline for updates on what COA is doing for you!
Very respectfully,
CDR Jacques
Katie Jacques
SCF Clinical Director | CDR, USPHS | kjacques@scf.cc
“Protecting, promoting and advancing the health and safety of the nation.”