Womack Army Medical Center emergency department renovation underway
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- The mission began at 0200 hours Wednesday, moving patients out of Zone One in Womack Army Medical Center's emergency department into modular units.
By noon, exhausted staff members were still smiling in the midst of a massive operation that required their entire ED and Urgent Care -- from patients to equipment and digital files -- to transition into a temporary home, without interrupting patient care.
Naturally, it was treated like a true military operation.
"We can make whatever the best plan we think is perfect and absolutely executable, but no plan survives enemy contact, and Murphy has a vote," said Colonel Frank Christopher, Chief of the Emergency Department.
Wednesday began a year-long journey to renovate Womack's outdated ED. The hallways of modular units were bustling before noon, as the staff juggled a trauma patient minutes before media showed up to tour the facilities.
"It has worked, and this morning has been one of the craziest morning's we've had outside the move in months," said Colonel Frank Christopher, Chief of the Emergency Department.
It became apparent in the early 2000s that there wasn't enough space to accommodate the soldiers, dependents, retirees and civilian workers who came to the Fort Bragg via the Base Realignment plan commonly known as BRAC.
At its height, Womack saw 72,000 patients a year and the command turned office space into clinical areas to make up for a lack of space. There was no way to ensure comfortable, private accommodations.
"So in a building that was designed in the mid-90s -- that was back in the days when there were curtains between beds, there wasn't a sink in every bed," said Christopher. "We lacked sufficient trauma and resuscitation space. We didn't have sufficient forensics exam space."
The latter has become a crucial component of the ED with the increase in military sexual assault reporting," said Christopher. The renovated department will feature more space for the clinical and case work needed to treat victims.
Womack's ED is also the first stop for Fort Bragg's wounded warriors coming home from overseas. When the ED was built in the 90s, space for that population wasn't a factor.
In 2009, the Womack staff, the Army Corps of Engineers, the military health system's planning agency and a number of contractors began blueprints for the modular units and the new emergency department space.
Christopher said the new plan will enable the ED to accommodate 76-78,000 patients a year. It's anticipated to be sufficient space as the Army downsizes. Information on project costs and square footage was not immediately available.
The 36-hour transition of staff, patients and equipment began Wednesday, with extra EMTs, physician assistants and doctors on standby. The modular units will be in place until the new ED opens in about nine months.
For Sergeant First Class Christhian Floril the transition was seamless. He came in with kidney-stone related pain, and said he was treated quickly.
"It was normal. I had no issues."
Mission accomplished.
"We made it work," said Assistant Head Nurse Dianne Strait. "So you can take us from one building to another and we still know what we're supposed to do."
