Joint Base San Antonio > News

433rd AW mobilizes medics for COVID-19 response
April 6, 2020 — In less than 36 hours, nine medics from the 433rd Airlift Wing and an Individual Mobilization Augmentee from the 59th Medical Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland mobilized and deployed to New York City on a C-5M Super Galaxy April 5, 2020, to respond to the COVID-19 crisis... MORE

Medical technicians in the 433rd Airlift Wing mobilize and depart Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, to respond to the COVID-19 crisis April 5, 2020.

SAMHS consolidates emergency services to BAMC, WHASC continues to offer urgent care
April 2, 2020 — To best support Brooke Army Medical Center emergency operations, the Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center Family Emergency Center will scale down its services and temporarily serve as an Urgent Care Center beginning 6 a.m. April 3... MORE

COVID-19 Testing: A message to our beneficiaries
March 26, 2020 — Due to increasing levels of community transmission and in order to ensure availability of testing in our highest-risk populations, effective March 26, the 59th Medical Wing will limit the preponderance of its current COVID-19 testing to nursing-home or retirement-center dwellers, active duty living in dorms, JBSA Healthcare Personnel, Military Training Instructors and other mission-critical active duty personnel... MORE

59th Medical Wing adjusts pharmacy hours, prescription services
March 23, 2020 — The 59th Medical Wing is continuing to make several precautionary adjustments to services to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases and ensure healthcare professionals and resources are poised to support an increased need for acute patient care... MORE

59th MDW adjusts services, offers options to continue care
March 20, 2020 — The 59th Medical Wing is making several precautionary adjustments to services to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases and ensure healthcare professionals and resources are poised to support an increased need for acute patient care... MORE

Latest Air Force trainees continue BMT with enhanced mitigation efforts
March 18, 2020 — For the 668 projected new U.S. Air Force recruits arriving here this week, basic military training is beginning with a 14-day restriction of movement, or ROM, as the service actively conducts mitigation procedures to slow down the spread of COVID-19... MORE

Wilford Hall implements temporary entry/exit point procedures
March 15, 2020 — Beginning March 16, 2020, leaders at Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center will begin implementing three entry and exit control points to ensure the continued health and safety of staff, volunteers and beneficiaries... MORE

Air Force Optometry History in 2020: 'The Year of Optometry'
February 7, 2020 — Air Force Optometry came into existence around the same time the Air Force Medical Service stood up July 1, 1949 and has been caring for the vision of aviators and warfighters ever since... MORE

Air Force optometry came into existence around the same time the Air Force Medical Service stood up on July 1, 1949, and has been caring for the vision of aviators and warfighters ever since. 2020, ‘The Year of Optometry’, focuses on ensuring eye health and vision care are a priority.

59th Medical Wing integrates missions, strengthens operational medical readiness
October 31, 2019 — The 59th Medical Wing activated the 559th Medical Squadron in a redesignation ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Oct. 30, after deactivating the 359th Medical Group... MORE

Joint Army-Air Force-Navy medical partnership saves lives downrange
October 25, 2019 — At any given time, there are over 100 medics deployed worldwide from the 59th Medical Wing, executing a Joint U.S. mission in support of global operations. ... MORE

Airmen work with members of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation team to save the life of a NATO troop at the Craig Joint-Theater Hospital on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 18, 2016

No effort spared to bring home seriously wounded Soldier
October 2, 2019 — Over four days, three aircraft, 18 medical specialists, including from the 59th Medical Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, more than 24,000 gallons of fuel, and 100 liters of blood were committed across an 8,000-mile journey to a single goal – saving the life of one Soldier... MORE

A critical care air transport team tends to a patient during a nearly 20-hour direct flight from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, to San Antonio on Aug. 18, 2019. The service member was cared for by a joint service team of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation specialists, an aeromedical evacuation team and a CCATT in order to maintain the highest level of care possible during transport.

Air Force dental course ensures mission readiness
September 26, 2019 — The 59th Dental Training Squadron prosthodontics flight hosted approximately 20 dental specialists at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Sept. 16 for the U.S. Air Force’s prosthodontics update course... MORE

Staff Sgt. Tara Freed, 959th Medical Group prosthetics department non-commissioned officer in charge, works with students from the Air Force Post Graduate Dental School surgical skills and readiness course at the Clinical Research Division at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Sept. 24. The training fulfills readiness requirements for both officers and enlisted from the 59th Dental Group.

59th Medical Wing: 'We're your family here'
September 13, 2019 — Retired U.S. Army Capt. Katie Blanchard estimates she has undergone nearly 200 surgeries since she was burned in a workplace violence incident three years ago... MORE

Retired U.S. Army Capt. Katie Blanchard squeezes the hand of Col. (Dr.) Chad Hivnor, 59th Medical Specialty Squadron laser medicine chief, after surgery Sept. 6 at Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Blanchard estimates she has undergone nearly 200 surgeries since she was burned in a workplace violence incident three years ago.

WHASC Family Health Center to complete restructure by Oct 1
September 5, 2019 — The Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland is in the final stages of its Family Health Clinic restructure, which formed two separate units of focused care: active duty beneficiaries and all other beneficiaries. The restructure began April 1, 2019 and is anticipated to be complete by Oct. 1, 2019. ... MORE

The Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center is in the final stages of its Family Health Clinic restructure, which formed two separate units of focused care: active duty beneficiaries and all other beneficiaries. The restructure began April 1, 2019 and is anticipated to be complete by October 1, 2019.

59th MDW offers information, medical care after mold found in dorms
July 31, 2019 — Leaders of the 59th Medical Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland are using their expertise to inform Airmen about how mold could affect their health... MORE

WHASC Pediatric Clinic keeps basic trainee pipeline moving
July 18, 2019 — The 59th Medical Wing’s Pediatric Clinic is currently assisting the 559th Medical Group by lending two additional providers. The 559th MDG keeps the Air Force’s enlisted pipeline moving by providing medical care to all basic military trainees... MORE

Capt. Natalie Aguilar, 59th Medical Operations Squadron pediatric nurse practitioner, checks a basic military trainee’s heart and lungs during an appointment June 28 at Reid Clinic, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Aguilar volunteers a few days a week at the clinic and sees about 20 patients a day.

59th MDW commander reflects on past year, way forward
July 15, 2019 — Sitting in his conference room, Maj. Gen. John DeGoes, 59th Medical Wing commander, is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and the clean, modern lines of Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. It’s a much different view, he reflects, than the one he saw sitting in the auditorium of the old WHASC, which he affectionately names “Big Willy,” as an internal medicine student entering his residency 30 years ago... MORE

Maj. Gen. John J. DeGoes, 59th Medical Wing commander, addresses the audience after taking command during the June 14, 2018, ceremony at the old Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center auditorium at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The 59th MDW provides superior graduate medical education and training, state-of-the-art research, and first-class global medical readiness. It also serves as the Air Force functional medical command for Joint Base San Antonio.

59th MDW CCATT team flys mother, baby home safely after 7 months in ICU
June 14, 2019 — Her anxious brown eyes stare large around her. The red jump seats, wires, oxygen masks, bare sheet metal and overall cold, dark interior of a C-130 Hercules are not comforting to the young mother whose 7-month-old son is out of an intensive care unit for the first time... MORE

Capt. Nicole Leib and Maj. Mariana Lacuzong, 59th Medical Wing critical care air transport team nurses, play with 7-month-old patient, Nakoa Crawford, during the five-hour flight from Dallas to San Diego June 7, 2019. Comprised of a doctor, nurse and respiratory therapist, the team must pack everything the will need while airborne - echocardiogram, oxygen, blood, medicine and other tools of the trade.

Ceremony honors 228 graduating military physicians, health care professionals
June 12, 2019 — A San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, or SAUSHEC, graduation ceremony was held June 7 at the Lila Cockrell Theatre in downtown San Antonio to honor 228 Army, Air Force, Navy, Public Health and civilian graduates. This year, 205 physicians from 36 graduate medical education programs and 23 graduates from eight graduate allied healthcare education programs walked the stage. ... MORE

Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann, dean of the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University, speaks during the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium graduation ceremony at the Lila Cockrell Theatre in downtown San Antonio June 7. The ceremony honored 228 Army, Air Force, Navy, Public Health and civilian medical education and allied health graduates.

Air Force medic trainee saves choking toddler
June 3, 2019 — An Airman from the 59th Medical Wing performed lifesaving intervention on a choking toddler at a local restaurant in San Antonio March 30. Airman 1st Class Tobias Titus, an aerospace medical technician in training, and his wife were having dinner when he noticed a mother and grandmother at an adjacent table attempting to dislodge a piece of food from a toddler’s airway... MORE

Airman 1st Class Tobias Titus, an aerospace medical technician in training at the 59th Medical Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, was recognized by Maj. Gen. John J. DeGoes, 59th MDW commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Chuck Frizzell, 59th MDW command chief, after performed lifesaving intervention on a choking toddler at a local restaurant March 30.