The Department of Defense (DoD) announced details of the military construction and facility improvement projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The $5.9 billion budget for the 3,000 construction and repair projects represents the bulk of the approximately $7.4 billion in defense-related funding provided by the ARRA signed by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17, 2009.
The two largest DoD projects to be constructed under the ARRA will be new hospitals at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Fort Hood, Texas.
The new Navy hospital for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton will replace the current Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton (NHCP), which was designed in 1969, with construction completed in 1974.
The new multi-story replacement hospital will provide the latest in inpatient and outpatient technology and improve the ability to remain fully operational after an earthquake. The building is expected to be more than 500,000 square feet and the estimated cost is more than $500 million. Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2010. The building should be complete in 2013 and equipped and fully operational by 2014.
The replacement hospital will continue to provide the full spectrum of medical care from maternity and newborn care to adult intensive care. This includes: an inpatient medical facility, ancillary departments, emergency care, primary care and specialty care clinics. http://www.health.mil/Press/Release.aspx?ID=599
The new hospital for Fort Hood will replace the current facility at the Killeen post, Darnall Army Medical Center, which was opened in 1965 and was expanded in 1984.
The first phase of the new hospital should break ground in September 2010 and take about three years to complete. It will include 585,000 square feet, with a primary care clinic, a pediatric clinic and new operating rooms. It also will include a behavioral services facility that is now spread out in three separate locations on Fort Hood.
Darnall is one of the busiest medical treatment facilities in the Army. On an average day, the staff handles 3,867 visits, 26 surgeries, 31 admissions, 170 emergency room visits and 5,000 prescriptions. It serves 55,000 active duty soldiers and 176,451 eligible beneficiaries. It was originally built to serve 17,000 troops. Because Darnall is too small, soldiers and their families must make 15,000 trips annually to other medical centers.
ARRA funds are also being used to support DoD high priority programs such as care for wounded warriors and energy security.
The DoD said it intends to spend ARRA funds as quickly as possible with full transparency and accountability. To view a complete list of the specific projects announced today, please visit http://www.defenselink.mil/recovery and http://www.recovery.gov .
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You know you are starting to get old, when hospitals that opened in 1974 while you were in the Army are now considered "old and out dated" and are scheduled for replacement ouch
Friday, March 27, 2009
new hospitals for Camp Pendleton and Fort Hood
