The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Initial Outfitting and Transition (IO&T) Program completed the final piece of a $31.4 million hospital expansion at West Point, New York, last month. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Oct. 7.
The IO&T’s $3.1 million portion of the military construction project furnished new equipment and helped transitioned staff and patients into the Brian D. Allgood Ambulatory Clinic addition of the Keller Army Community Hospital throughout September.
Planning of the West Point project began in April 2013, with the contract awarded in September 2013, said Amanda Pommerenck, IO&T Program project manager for the West Point expansion.
“Work on the project started right after the contract was awarded,” she said. “We began by both inventorying the existing hospital and clinic equipment and interviewing employees to determine their Standard Operating Procedures in their current space. Once we had an accurate inventory and assessment of the hospital staff's routines, we met key stakeholders from each section of the hospital to review their current equipment and begin to assess their requirements for their future space.”
The IO&T Program supplies and transitions medical, research and non-medical equipment, including physical security systems, specialty telecom systems and other identified equipment/systems necessary to meet functional requirements of the facility as well as training on this equipment. It also supports the move of staff and patients into new and renovated military healthcare and medical research laboratory facilities.
While these projects can appear simple, they can be quite complex, Pommerenck said.
“The Brian D. Allgood Ambulatory Clinic was a small project because we were equipping and managing the transition to an addition of the existing hospital, but we are currently finalizing a $67 Million equipment list for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland,” she said.
The IO&T Program has several major replacement hospitals currently under construction, such as Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Irwin, California and Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
“Imagine moving everyone from the Huntsville Center into a new building – everyone needs new furniture, etc.,” she said. “In a hospital, not only do you have to purchase and place new furnishings and equipment, but you also have to figure out what the work is going to look like in the new hospital.”
An important issue IO&T must consider is the transition of medical personnel from the existing hospital to the new section or new hospital.
“The nurses know that they have to take a sample from this location to that location, but in the new hospital facility they have to relearn where everything is located, and there is very little overlap,” she said. “They have to stop work in the old location and immediately start taking patients in the new location. You can’t shut down a hospital.”
The new hospital or clinic additions also receive Information Technology (IT) system upgrades to bring the facility up to the new standards in healthcare.
“An example of a major IT healthcare upgrade is Qflow, which is a market leading queue management system that will automate patient reception and tracking procedures with the ultimate goal of reducing lobby wait times,” said Wes Johnson, program manager for the IO&T Program. “Qflow is designed around self-service kiosks and live dashboard displays to ensure that all patients can visually see their progress and ensure that timely care is provided.”
Another IT system upgrade installed in major replacement hospitals is the Vocera wireless healthcare communication system.
“Vocera is a secure hands free communication system that operates off of communication badges that each hospital staff will wear,” Johnson said. “This voice controlled badge allows hospital staff members to instantly communicate with other staff members, patient rooms, or record notes for upcoming shift-changes. The goal is to ensure that critical information gets distributed to the right person at the right time.”
After the transition of medical supplies, staff and patients has been completed from the existing facility to the new addition/facility, the IO&T Program provides turnover and close-out services that facilitate the turnover of the facility, documents and projects to both the installation and the Health Facilities Planning Agency.
The IO&T’s total program scope is more than $500 million, which includes services such as interior design, warehouse management, and post occupancy evaluations.
“The IO&T team’s ultimate goal is to deliver world class medical facilities and equipment to the armed service members and their families who deserve the best care that we can provide,” Johnson said. “Alongside Mrs. Pommerenck, the project managers and contracting team that make up the IO&T program put forth an incredible amount of time and energy to ensure that this goal is achieved for each project effort that we are honored to be a part of.”