Posted on 04/27/2006 4:08:59 PM PDT by SandRat
FORT HOOD (Army News Service, April 26, 2006) – Darnall Army Community Hospital will officially receive U.S. Army medical center status and a new name during a rededication ceremony May 1 at Fort Hood, Texas.
The new name will be the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, according to Commander Col. Loree Sutton.
The hospital originally opened at its present site in April 1965.
Today, the hospital has approximately 2,500 military, civilian and contracted personnel supporting more than 150,000 TRICARE beneficiaries living within the hospital’s catchment area. On an average day, there are 3,867 outpatient visits, 26 surgeries, seven newborn deliveries, 170 visits to the emergency department and nearly 5,000 prescriptions filled.
“There will be no dramatic changes initially,” Col. Sutton explained. “However, the name change is significant as it relates to our ability to plan for expanded new facility requirements, specialty care services and vital training programs in the future. We will grow into our future incrementally – this is the first step.”
Medical centers generally provide a greater depth of clinical support, particularly with respect to specialty care services, and centers normally host a broader range of graduate medical education programs, the commander pointed out.
Darnall is transitioning, but, Col. Sutton said, “We will continue to execute our enormous primary care, ambulatory surgery, deployment readiness missions, and our emergency medicine and family medicine residency, nursing, physical assistant and other training programs. These efforts represent our core competencies. As such, they are simply non-negotiable.”
As for the possibility of a new facility, Col. Sutton pointed out the Fort Hood Master plan allocates 40 acres off of Clear Creek Road for the new medical center.
“It is important to note that funding has not yet been approved to start the actual design or construction of the new facility. Darnall is one of numerous competing priorities,” he said. “However, our current planning will enable us to be ready to proceed when authorized to do so.”
(Editor’s note: Information provided by the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office.)
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