Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles educating readers on Irwin Army Community Hospital’s mission, standards of care and services provided.
Construction on the Irwin Army Community Hospital Replacement Project has reached a new milestone and is 59 percent complete.
“This hospital reflects our continuing efforts to provide care to an ever-changing population, whose needs and numbers have changed over the last 50 years, most dramatically over the last 10 years,” said Col. Barry Pockrandt, IACH commander. “This quality of change will persist, and we will continue to reassess and adjust resources and practices to provide the best care possible. There is a real sense of pride and anticipation as we watch the construction progress and the new hospital takes shape.”
The replacement hospital is the largest construction project in 100 years for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District, according to Lt. Col. Glenn Marsh, U.S. Army Health Facility Planning Agency, Western Region North program manager.
“For the Army and Kansas itself, this is a major accomplishment with involvement from all stakeholders committed to the success of this project,” he said. “The project is injecting millions of dollars of economic benefit into the Central Flint Hills Region. At the peak of construction, up to 600 personnel are working on the site in multiple shifts. These construction workers are living in Manhattan and Junction City and are contributing by becoming a part of this community while this project is going on.”
The new facility is scheduled to open in 2014 and will be about 550,000 square feet.
It will be complete with inpatient and outpatient care, along with new services, including a sleep lab, refractive eye center, traumatic brain injury treatment center, full CT and MRI capabilities and an inpatient behavioral health clinic fitted with 10 beds.
This will be the first Army hospital that has the patient-centered medical home system built into it from the start, Marsh said.
“Essentially, it’s building the doctors and nurses into teams to facilitate patients, while optimizing the facility layout to support these integrated teams,” he said. “This gives patients the opportunity to see their providers more frequently and build that history with them.”
From a sustainment standpoint, the new facility will be much more efficient meeting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification standards to reduce the burden on the surrounding community from power and water usage, Marsh said. Silver design standards include use of recycled building materials located within 500 miles of the project.
“The new hospital is one of few newly built medical facilities in the United States designed with evidenced-based design in mind from ground up,” he said.
EBD incorporates best practices from private sector and clinical research health care facility designs to enhance positive patient clinical outcomes.
“The facility will feature a healing garden, reflecting pool and water wall, in addition to scores of subtle design details to reduce negative impacts on patient and staff, while promoting a healthier care and work environment in a state of the art facility for the beneficiaries of Fort Riley,” Marsh said.
By Tywanna Sparks
IACH Public Affairs
IACH
TOP: A rendering depicts the completed view of the Irwin Army Community Hospital Replacement Project. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2014.
BOTTOM: The Irwin Army Community Hospital Replacement Project is at 59 percent completion. The replacement hospital is the largest construction project in nearly 100 years for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District.
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