Medical clinic has major makeover

An old hospital building at Vandenberg Air Force Base has received a major makeover designed to aid the 30th Medical Group in delivering 21st-century health care.

Officials gathered Monday to celebrate completion of a large portion of the 30th Medical Group’s $24 million renovation project to fully convert the old Vandenberg hospital building into a modern clinic.

“This is a tool. It’s an awesome tool. It’s a tool that can help us take care of people well into the future,” said Lt. Col. Erich Murrell, 30th Medical Support Squadron commander.

For the past two years, most of the first floor of the four-story building has been under renovation to get rid of the remnants of the stark boxy hospital decor.

In place now are warm colors with an open floor plan to meet clinic patients’ needs. The improvements are all designed “to help us to provide better care, convenience and comfort,” Chaplain Maj. Warren Watties said during his invocation.

Just inside the spruced-up main entrance, the area houses a primary-care clinic for adults and children, a pharmacy, medical-records room and an immunization clinic. Tricare health benefit representatives are located off the lobby and with privacy cubicles.

Additionally, physical therapy and the Health and Wellness Center are now paired under one roof.

To make the exam rooms more kid-friendly, the pediatrics section has examination tables with hippo and spaceship facades, while a scale is designed to look like a rocket

Friday afternoon, crews were working to finish up, removing plastic placed for painting the walls, hanging pictures and relocating furniture.

By Monday, the facility was busy with activity as patients waited for prescriptions and received medical care.

Col. Charles “Whit” Campbell, Air Force Space Command Surgeon General and a former commander of the 30th Medical Group, noted that the facility had undergone a smaller renovation during his leadership.

“However, it pales in comparison to what we have seen now, what space our staff has but more importantly what space there is for our beneficiaries,” he said.

Campbell led a line of officials, including Col. Janice Wallace, 30th Medical Group commander, taking part in the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“I think anyone who would walk in the front door behind us would notice a very appealing sight and an open environment that says, ‘We are here to serve all of your needs,’” Campbell added.

The base medical clinic serves about 8,000 people, including active-duty military members, their dependents and retirees, but some 13,000 eligible beneficiaries could use it, according to Murrell.

Nearly half the patients who use the clinic are families of active-duty airmen, and some 34 percent are active-duty military members, officials said. Retirees account for 14 percent of the clinic’s patients.

The remainder of the renovation project should be done within six months, according to Murrell. That will include areas patients wouldn’t normally see such as logistics and medical-readiness sections. Beautification projects also are planned for the dental clinic and digital imaging lab.

Originally built 44 years as a

120-bed hospital, the facility has undergone many changes as officials gradually closed the emergency room and obstetrics in the 1990s, saying the numbers of patients didn’t support having full departments.

Among people seeing the renovated building Monday was retiree Dr. Anthony Orlandella, 80, of Dana Point , the facility’s first urologist more than four decades ago.

“When I was here it was a wonderful facility,” he said, adding the improvements created “a beautiful facility.”

While the facility appears the same because its location didn’t change, visually it’s essentially a brand-new clinic, he added.

“For those that serve, it will be a tremendous boon,” he said.

June 30, 2009