RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
An $8.5 million renovation and improvements to the Randolph Medical Clinic, scheduled to begin June 2, is expected to make the clinic more patient friendly once the project is completed.
Base and 12th Medical Group officials, including Col. Paul Bennett, 12th MDG commander, attended a groundbreaking ceremony April 28 to officially kick off the expansion and renovation project.
First Lt. Brian Bogumil, 12th Medical Support Squadron clinic renovation program manager, said the project, scheduled to take 20 months to complete, will give the two-story, 100,000-square-foot base clinic a much-needed makeover.
"The whole clinic will be getting a facelift," Lieutenant Bogumil said. "We will double the size of the pharmacy and family care waiting area by enclosing the front entrance to the patient drop-off area. The ambulatory bay in the back of the clinic will be enclosed to create more clinical space for patient care. Also, we will be painting, installing new ceilings, lights, floor tiling, signs and a skylight in the atrium of the family care area."
Other renovations include upgrading all restrooms and making them comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, improved landscaping, expanding the parking lot by 60 spaces and adding a coffee bar in the family care/pharmacy waiting area. These are the first major improvements to the medical clinic since it opened in 1989.
The project will be done in nine phases with the ambulatory bay renovation being the first and ending with the enclosure of the front entrance in August 2009.
Lieutenant Bogumil said the renovations and improvements are meant to make the clinic more aesthetically appealing and comfortable to patients.
"We want to create a more soothing, healing and caring environment for our patients," he said.
The improvements will create more space for the family care and physical therapy departments. Family care will gain an additional 1,600 square feet of space, which will help improve patient care, by expanding into the current public health offices. Then public health will be moved to the present physical therapy space, and physical therapy will double in size from 1,600 to 3,200 square feet by moving to current administrative offices on the first floor.
"We feel we have enough space right now, but it has not been utilized the right way," Lieutenant Bogumil said. "The renovation and improvements will help the clinic better utilize its space and be modernized."
Staff Sgt. Zach Coyner, 12th MDG physical therapy technician, said physical therapy care will improve with more space.
"We will have a whole room for people to exercise and rehab," Sergeant Coyner said. "We will be able to add more equipment and have the ability to provide more services and see more patients."
While none of the clinic operations will be closed as a result of the renovations, Lieutenant Bogumil said patients will have to deal with some inconveniences.
"At certain times some of the operations will be affected or limited, such as there will be a change in the traffic flow of the clinic because the check-in desk will have to be relocated and at times certain areas of the parking lot will be closed due to the construction," he said.