Annual Report of the Surgeon General United States Army Fiscal Year 1961
CONSTRUCTION
New Hospitals
Two new hospitals were dedicated during 1961; construction on one other was nearing completion at yearend; and work was progressing satisfactorily on three additional new facilities.
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Evacuation of casualty by HU-1A helicopter ambulance, during field training exercises
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The Munson Army Hospital, a 90-bed unit which is so constructed as to permit expansion to 190 beds, was dedicated at Fort Leavenworth on 1 March 1961. This hospital was named in memory of the late Brig. Gen. Edward Lyman Munson, a medical officer who served the Army with great distinction during the period from 17 May 1893 to 31 December 1932. Kimbrough Army Hospital, which is a 150-bed facility, capable of expanding to 300 beds, was dedicated at Fort George G. Meade, on 29 June 1961. It is named for the Army?s famed urologist, Col. James Claude Kimbrough, who retired from the Army in 1953 following a brilliant medical career which had spanned 36 years.
At Fort Lee, Va., a new 100-bed facility on a 200-bed chassis is nearing completion and will be ready for occupancy during the coming fiscal year. The three other facilities which are under construction at this time are the hospitals at Fort Eustis, Va. (116 beds); Fort McClellan, Ala. (100 beds); and Carlisle Barracks, Pa. (25 beds). These three hospitals are also expected to be completed and ready for occupancy during fiscal year 1962.
Army Health Facility Concept
The Army Medical Service made a long stride forward in its program to provide modern permanent-type buildings for the hospitalization of patients and to provide care for its ever-increasing outpatient loads at Army medical facilities.
The military construction program for fiscal year 1961 included a project for the construction of a new ?health activity? at Aberdeen Proving Ground. This facility, for which construction will begin during July 1961, will include a 75-bed hospital, a dental clinic, and a complete outpatient service.
The term ?Army Health Facility? heralds a new medical treatment concept which envisions a permanent-type building, housing all major medical activities of a given installation under ?one roof.? This concept was developed as a result of an awareness that almost all of the new permanent-type hospitals constructed during the past few years have proved to be inadequate in size, thus forcing the continued use of portions of old hospital plants. To preclude continuation of this situation, and to establish building requirements for future military hospitals, an intensive study was made of the methods formerly used in developing facility needs. This study resulted in the development of an entirely new formula for measuring the space requirements of a major military medical facility. The formula, which is based upon a statistical analysis of workload, staffing requirements, hours of operation,
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Munson Army Hospital, Fort Leavenworth, Kans.
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Kimbrough Army Hospital, Fort George G. Meade, Md.
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and areas required for clinical elements, nursing units, and support activities, makes it possible to predetermine the size of a building required to meet medical needs at a given installation. Such a structure has been given the name ?Army Health Facility.?
The long-range practicability of using such a logical formula to determine requirements can best be proved by citing the requirements for the building to be constructed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Using the old system of computing requirements, it was initially determined that The Surgeon General would only be allowed a maximum gross area of 49,350 square feet for this structure. Subsequently, using the new formula, a requirement for an 84,000-square-foot structure was determined. This requirement was presented to, and justified before, the Congress. Consequently, the size-specified facility was approved and will be constructed at the Proving Ground.
Construction of Quarters for Nurses (Female Officers)
Progress continued to be made in the program to provide modern quarters for female officers, primarily Army nurses. The following is a status report on the progress of the program:
Quarters for 48 nurses were completed at Fort Riley in June 1960; in May 1961, quarters for 80 nurses were completed at Fort Benning.
At Forts Monmouth, Lee, and Leavenworth, respectively, quarters to house 40, 32, and 35 nurses were under construction as of March, August, and November, 1961.
The project at Fort George G. Meade (quarters for 30 nurses) has been delayed because authorization authority expired on 30 June 1961.
The military construction funding program for fiscal year 1962 provides for quarters for 80 nurses to be constructed at Fort Dix.
Other Projects
There were other construction projects for the Army Medical Service too numerous to mention herein. Probably one of the most interesting of these projects was the conversion of a building at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., to a hospital facility. This is the second conversion for the structure. The first was in the early 1950?s, when as an existing hospital it was converted to an office building for the Army missile program just then getting underway. After nearly 10 years? use as an administrative building, the constant growth in the mission of the arsenal created a pressing requirement for a modern hospital, and during fiscal year 1961, the second conversion of the building was started to provide an up-to?date medical facility for the installation.
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Another project worthy of note is the new building for the Second U.S. Army medical laboratory that was started in March 1961. This is the first modern medical laboratory constructed for AMEDS in CONUS since World War II and is a prototype of several other similar Army laboratories which may be constructed in the next few years.
