GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This sentiment holds true in today’s landscape, and the hard-working people at the Integrated Prevention and Resilience Office here at the Hoosier Wing couldn’t agree more.
IPRO’s main mission is to integrate community, family, individual support, and resiliency programs. The team at the IPRO works to establish unit and community connections, while also preventing a vast majority of struggles for servicemembers, ranging from job stress to money problems.
“As the prevention office, our job is to work on preventing harmful behaviors,” said Dawn Altmaier, Chief of IPRO. “We are focused on addressing risk factors by introducing resources to those who need it.”
The IPRO team is filled with seasoned public health professionals, with over 73 years of collective experience in the Air Force as servicemembers and as civilians. This large amount of expertise has only bolstered the community here at Grissom Air Reserve Base.
“We’ve seen interconnectedness increase,” said Logan Devos, prevention specialist at IPRO. "It can be kind of easy to get lost in the fray in larger units, where everyone kinda scatters to go to lunch or something like that. There’s now this new group of people in the unit, a group to work out, a group to go to Chocks, and so on and so forth.”
The IPRO team members have many tricks up their sleeves to assist with public health, ranging from simple team building exercises to introducing licensed therapy dogs to whomever needs it most.
“It’s a way to get out into the units and help enhance that feeling of cohesion,” said Nikki Partacz, prevention specialist at IPRO. “And if somebody is struggling, oftentimes while they’re petting a dog we get to hear those stressors and kind of guide and direct them. We try to talk with everybody that’s there and let them know about our resources.”
“Research shows that petting dogs releases dopamine, which burns off the stress hormones in your body.” says Altmaier.
Not only does IPRO reach out to units directly with events, they also support the helping agencies around Grissom. This includes the Chaplain’s office, the director of psychological health, Military and Family Readiness, and more.
“We really oversee prevention,” said Altmaier. “Which allows all of the different support agencies to be able to focus on their patients and provide the care that their people need. We’re kind of the supporters of the support.”
The IPRO has been a part of the Hoosier Wing for almost eight years, and within that time they have hosted many events around Grissom to increase public mental health. These events have led to a direct increase in mental health.
“There was a person on Facebook, who had come into my office,” said Altmaier. “They had posted with our free swag that we had given out that day, talking about how they had struggled with some issues. And because of us, today was the first day they had reached out for help. Now we know we’ve made a difference.”