Fort Bragg Department of Public Health Maintains National Accreditation Status through the Public Health Accreditation Board

Securing its place among only five accredited military public health departments globally, Fort Bragg continues to set the gold standard in military readiness, innovation, and community health. FORT BRAGG, N.C., August 13, 2026-- The Fort Bragg Department of Public Health announced it has successfully completed a rigorous peer-review process to maintain its national accreditation status through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). In maintaining its accreditation status for another five years, the department has demonstrated that it not only meets PHAB’s strict quality standards but possesses the capacity to continuously evolve, innovate, and drive the future of military public health. The non-profit PHAB works to advance and transform public health practice by championing performance improvement, strong infrastructure, and innovation. The Fort Bragg Department of Public Health first achieved this milestone on March 17, 2020, becoming the world's second military installation to do so. To date, it remains one of only five accredited military public health departments on the globe. This milestone represents a monumental, total department effort across all public health sections, from clinical services and environmental health to health promotion and epidemiology. By working as a unified team, the department has successfully integrated robust, data-driven methods to drive command-informed decisions across the installation. These collaborative efforts have secured over $2.68 million in external grant funding to support installation health initiatives with zero impact on the hospital's budget, while scaling local food security solutions to a collaborative network of nearly 60 military installations worldwide. “We are so pleased to again be recognized by PHAB for achieving national standards that foster effectiveness and promote continuous quality improvement," said LTC Donofrio, Director of the Fort Bragg Department of Public Health. “This milestone proves that our department remains the gold standard of military public health. I also want to extend our deepest gratitude to retired Army physicians Col. Sheryl Bedno and Lt. Col. Teresa Pearce, whose foundational leadership and unwavering support paved the way for our accreditation journey. We hope this announcement reassures our military community and command leadership that the proactive services we provide are actively ensuring warfighter readiness and family resilience.” "Pursuing PHAB reaccreditation is about utilizing rigorous national standards to knock down silos and drive tangible health equity. Our promise to our community is simple: we hear your feedback, and we put it into action," said Whitney Nelson, Compliance Consultant, DoW OneOp Nutrition & Wellness Subject Matter Expert, and Accreditation Coordinator. "By conducting ongoing community needs assessments, a recurring five-year process utilizing primary and secondary surveillance data, surveys, and focus groups, we turn raw information into direct action. This process justified bringing on our Epidemiologist, Kathryn Polaskey. Her 'boots-on-the-ground' data analysis provides an unmatched capability to understand our population. We actively share this data, present Commands with solutions, and collaborate on crucial risk reduction and prevention programs across the installation." Nelson added, "A prime example of this is our partnership with the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Cumberland County Department of Public Health. Established in 2019, this collaboration has driven high-impact projects from managing COVID-19 to improving cancer screenings and conducting environmental scans on nutrition, alcohol, and tobacco. Together, we launched our on-post WIC clinic and formed the Fort Bragg Cumberland County Food Policy Council and the Military WIC Office Council (MWOC)." "We are pleased to see the Fort Bragg Department of Public Health, along with many others, successfully maintaining their five-year PHAB accreditation," said PHAB President and CEO Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP. "This demonstrates that accreditation is not just a one-time achievement but an ongoing commitment to excellence." Deeply integrating with the Fort Bragg Garrison and the XVIII Airborne Corps Prevention Advisory Group (I-PAG) ensures that proactive public health is permanently embedded into military readiness. Furthermore, this local success is strongly supported by the Defense Centers for Public Health-Aberdeen (DCPH-A) and the Defense Health Agency (DHA), ensuring that when Fort Bragg shares its data and solutions, it actively shapes enterprise-wide military health policy. Since its site visit, the department has continued to expand on these emerging partnerships to advance the health of the installation for years to come. About the Fort Bragg Department of Public Health The Fort Bragg Department of Public Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all service members, civilians, retirees, and families within the Fort Bragg community. Learn more about the department athttps://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwomack.tricare.mil%2FHealth-Services%2FPublic-Health. For more information, please contact Whitney Nelson athttps://www.google.com/url?q=mailto%3Awhitney.j.nelson.civ%40health.mil. About the Public Health Accreditation Board The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) was created to serve as the national public health accrediting body and is jointly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For more information, contact PHAB Communications athttps://www.google.com/url?q=mailto%3Acommunications%40phaboard.org. Learn more about PHAB and accreditation athttps://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.phaboard.org.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.