Communication system a go at Weed Army Community Hospital Data Center

U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville
Published June 6, 2017
The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Medical Communications Infrastructure & Systems Support (MCIS2) Program is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and the Health Facility Planning Agency to ensure facilities-related communications systems and communications infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are installed.Data Center in the Weed Army Community Hospital.

The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Medical Communications Infrastructure & Systems Support (MCIS2) Program is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and the Health Facility Planning Agency to ensure facilities-related communications systems and communications infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are installed.Data Center in the Weed Army Community Hospital.

Soldiers and their families will see big changes when they start using the new Weed Army Community Hospital at Fort Irwin, California, in September 2017.

Hospital users will see the new building, new furniture and new medical equipment.  What they won’t see is just as important.

The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Medical Communications Infrastructure & Systems Support (MCIS2) Program is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and the Health Facility Planning Agency to ensure facilities-related communications systems and communications infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are installed.

The project equipped the new hospital data center with hardware cabinets, uninterruptable power supplies, power distribution units and inline cooling racks. The $616,000 project included the assembly of all equipment within a hot aisle containment system and included the installation and deployment of UPS, batteries, PDUs and in-row cooling units.

“Working with the Los Angeles District, we provided key guidance in the development and execution of the facility related information technology portion of the integrated master schedule,” said Kevin Miller, the Huntsville Center project manager. “This enabled all dependent medical systems to remain on schedule and acquire their certification testing and staff training for opening day.”

While providing procurement and installation of several key systems for the new hospital, the MCIS2 team attended onsite meetings that ensured the delivery and installation of critical components in a timely manner. During the course of any construction project of this magnitude, numerous changes are anticipated.

The MCIS2 Team coordinated with the general contractor, Turner Construction, as well as the Los Angeles District, to mitigate any issues with overall project completion. Working in parallel with the Los Angeles District and the Health Facility Planning Agency program manager, the project remained on schedule throughout the construction process. These key complementary services provided by the MCIS2 Program, Los Angeles District, and the general contractor will ensure the completion of a world class medical treatment facility for the Fort Irwin Soldiers and their families.

The new Fort Irwin medical facility will be approximately 216,000 square feet and will provide Soldier and family patient care, emergency medicine and clinical support. The hospital will support not only the garrison but also the brigade size units that rotate through the National Training Center each year.

Heidi Connelly is the chief, Information Technology Systems Branch A, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville Center.