The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) is a MANDATORY program, per OPNAVINST 1754.2 and SECNAVINST 1754.5, designed to identify family members with long-term health care (medical or psychological) or special education needs. The program coordinates with detailers to ensure that a family member's special needs will be met at the next assignment area. It is sponsored by BUPERS and is administered by the Navy Hospital, Charleston.
To ensure that the special needs of the family member are met, service members are required to enroll when the need is identified or at least nine months prior to their Projected Rotation Date (PRD). This will give the detailer time to consider the family's needs, the service member's career needs, and the Navy's needs when making decision on service member's next assignment.
BellSouth Telephone Company provides improved service to assist individuals with physical disabilities. Customers who use text telephone "TTY" machines to communicate with others may call Relay South Carolina for assistance. At the center, special operators translate TTY machines into speech for non-TTY users and vise versa. The Relay Center has added several new numbers to enhance service. In addition to the current 1-800-735-2905 number for VOICE, the new numbers for RELAY are:
1-800-735-8583 TTY
1-800-735-7293 ASCII
1-877-735-7277 Speech-to-Speech. This service provides human "voices" for people who have difficulty being understood by the public on the telephone. When you call this number, you reach a patient, trained operator who is familiar with many speech patterns and has acute hearing. This operator makes telephone calls for you and repeats your words exactly. For more information, call customer service at 1-800-676-3777 (VOICE/TTY).