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A $405 million addition to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and a $36.4 million replacement for the Katterbach Consolidated Health and Dental Clinic are among
projects that have received final approval by the U.S. Army Health Facilities Planning Agency and the TRICARE Management Activity for FY11 construction starts.
“Approval of the Landstuhl and Katterbach projects is the most significant capital investment in Army medical construction in Europe in recent years,” said Maj. Bryan Walrath, Europe Regional Medical Command chief of health facility planning. “Construction that will begin in those communities in 2011 equals almost five times the amount of medical military construction spent during the past 20 years.”
A new five-story, 278,000 square-foot inpatient tower and related construction at LRMC will include 120 beds with room to expand in case of emergencies. New construction will also include an 800-space, five-story parking garage with a helipad on top, as well as a connecting walkway between the garage and patient tower.
In addition, future changes will include renovation to the existing three-story tower facility which includes the intensive care unit, labor and delivery, radiology, operating rooms and the emergency room department. The new inpatient tower will be connected to the existing three-story tower. Also on tap will be road construction and demolition of four buildings.
“Obviously this is great for Landstuhl,” said hospital commander Col. (Dr.) Brian Lein. “It demonstrates a long-term commitment to the healthcare that is going to be provided for patients throughout the European Theater. This is just one of many proposed improvements in healthcare infrastructure and healthcare delivery that Europe Regional Medical Command has been focusing on.”
The new inpatient hospital will be located in front of the emergency room area of the existing hospital, built in 1953. New hospital construction is expected to be
complete in 2014.
A proposed, but unfunded, Phase II project would include a similar outpatient tower that would also be connected to the existing hospital tower. In the proposed end state, most of the distinctive spine-and-rib design of the current complex will disappear to make way for the more modern modular style of construction.
In Bavaria, a new 51,000 square-foot Katterbach Consolidated Health/Dental Clinic has been approved to service the garrison and aviation communities.
“This project will ‘right-size’ the clinic for the population being served by replacing a small 63-year-old building with a modern facility,” said Major Walrath. “It will also consolidate all available medical services into one location.”
Though presently unfunded, a $34.3 million addition and alteration project has been proposed for the consolidated Vilseck Health and Dental Clinic. The proposal will be reviewed for the FY12-17 construction cycle.
Already in progress is a $44 million medical facility at U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza that includes primary and specialty care clinics, a 24-hour labor-and-delivery nursing unit, and a same-day surgery suite. Completion is expected for May 2010.
A $13 million health and dental clinic opened at Grafenwöhr in July.
(Courtesy of Europe Regional Medical Command Public Affairs)
