HUNTSVILLE, Alabama--The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Medical Outfitting and Transition (MOT) program is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Far East District, the U.S. Army Health Facility Planning Agency and local contractors to ensure the largest overseas American military base in the world has fully-equipped medical facilities.
Huntsville Center’s MOT is providing complete turn-key project support for the equipping and transitioning of staff and patients into the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital and Ambulatory Care Center at Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea. The new 772,000 square foot facility is set to open in November, 2019.
As the design and construction agent for U.S. Forces Korea, the Far East District is at the forefront of the construction processes there.
Huntsville Center’s MOT program supports the process by ensuring Camp Humphreys medical community has the right tools to carry out their mission.
J.R. Teer, MOT project manager, said there have been challenges associated with the project.
He said over the years the IO&T has taken on much larger projects like the one million square foot Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (CRDAMC) at Fort Hood, Texas. However, he said the BAACH project demanded more attention due to the challenges of geographical distance and language.
“During the planning portion of the project, we gathered the requirements through coordination with the (Army Medical Command) Health Facility Planning Office there to ensure information relayed to the Republic of Korea-based contractors was translated accurately,” Teer said.
“All-in-all, everything is working out well and everybody is on the same page for this stage of preparing the facility to open on time,” he said.
For the MOT team, preparation includes the purchase and installation of more than $45 million-worth of furniture, information technology and medical equipment required to provide service for the 45,000 servicemembers, their families and other beneficiaries calling Camp Humphreys home.
Teer said more than 95 percent of the equipment and furnishings going into the BAACH is new and the MOT project delivery team of contracting professionals, program and project managers and interior designers have worked tirelessly to ensure every requirement is met.
“We’ve procured everything from ophthalmology equipment, hospital beds, Radiology Imaging System, to waiting room furniture and even the art on the walls. The preparation has been expansive,” he said.
Teer said the BAACH PDT even included members of Huntsville Center’s Information Technology Division Facility Technology Integration-Medical team who provided facility related information technology project management and acquisition services.
The Center’s CFTI-M program team gathered the network security requirements for the BAACH pharmacy’s robotic dispensing system and then procured the right systems to meet all the technical requirements.
Camp Humphreys has seen massive base expansion since the plans to relocate and consolidate much of the American military presence in the Republic of Korea were signed in 2004. The entire 3,500 acre Army installation has encompassed a wide variety of operational and quality-of-life facilities including the BAACH and its surrounding clinics.
The MOT team isn’t just outfitting the main hospital, it’s also ensuring the 85th Medical Brigade Headquarters, the dental and veterinary clinics, and even the medical warehouse there are outfitted with the right equipment and furnishings required to ensure the Camp Humphreys medical mission flourishes into the future.
“This is a great opportunity to provide an updated environment to benefit Camp Humphreys’ Soldiers, family members and other beneficiaries,” said Julia Chlarson, Huntsville Center’s Medical Division chief.
“The BAACH has been meticulously designed to comply with U.S. standards and earn the designation “world-class facility,” and our entire PDT has worked so hard to not only meet, but to exceed that standard. I’m especially proud of our interior design team and medical furnishings project managers whose work contributes to the hospital’s healing environment,” she said.
“The beneficiaries of what we do don’t know who we are, and that’s ok because it’s the mission that matters. Our PDT believes in what they are doing and they consider it an honor to support this mission.”