JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO -- Brooke Army Medical Center celebrated the 20th anniversary of the opening of "New BAMC" April 13 with a ceremony in the San Antonio Military Medical Center Medical Mall.
BAMC's history dates back to 1879 when the first post hospital opened as a small medical dispensary located in a single story wooden building on Fort Sam Houston.
Following years of planning and construction, on July 18, 1995, the new seven story medical center built on the eastern edge of Fort Sam Houston was turned over to the BAMC commander and on March 16, 1996, the new facility was officially dedicated. Then on April 13, 1996, 20 years ago, the "New BAMC" officially opened with the transfer of all inpatients from "Old BAMC" to the new campus.
Guests were treated to a slide show of photographs from the past and a walk down memory lane from guest speaker Dr. Gregg Anders who was the chief of pulmonary and critical care 20 years ago when patients were moved from main post to the new facility.
"The conga line of convoys left the old main hospital and the Beach Pavilion at the corner of Stanley and Allen roads and the ambulances wound their way down the hill to this facility," Anders said. They moved about 40 patients that day.
"It went off almost like clockwork, but one of the ambulances got separated and pulled up to the wrong entrance," he said. "That caused quite a bit of radio chatter."
Anders said he was one of the last people to leave the old building. "I knew something historic had occurred," he said.
The doctor said many changes have occurred since then.
The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act called for consolidation of medical resources within the San Antonio area. These actions included a plan to significantly expand the capacity at BAMC and transfer all inpatient care and trauma services from Wilford Hall Medical Center to BAMC.
The expansion included the new addition of the consolidated tower which opened in September 2011, and the hospital was renamed San Antonio Military Medical Center.
"Since 9/11 the focus of this building has forever been changed," Anders said. "We have sustained combat operations and the subsequent casualties that have occurred since that time. That has changed how we work here."
Today, the 425-bed Joint Commission-accredited facility remains the only Level I Trauma and burn center within the Department of Defense. BAMC is a proud partner of the San Antonio Military Health System, designed to optimize clinical care, educational training, and business operations for all military treatment facilities within the San Antonio area.
This was the first of several celebrations to come. In October of this year will be the fifth anniversary of the consolidated tower and in February 2017 the 10th anniversary of the Center for the Intrepid.
"These are all organizations that are on our campus and are part of the overall command," said Army Col. Mark Swofford, deputy commanding officer of BAMC. "It is important to highlight all of these steps in our history and the evolution of the facility and honor these who serve here."
"We have always viewed this as a special place; I have and I know you have too," Anders said. "It's important that we see each other and recognize each other for the commitments we have made to this place and these people who are not just customers they are our patients."
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