Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center celebrated the opening of its new Multi-Service Clinic with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday.
"I wouldn't miss this day for anything," said Col. Danny B.N. Jaghab, commander, U.S. Army Medical Department, Fort Meade, and commander of Kimbrough. "It's a big day for us."
The new clinic, located on the second floor, expands Kimbrough's services: gastroenterology, including endoscopies and colonoscopies; hand and upper extremity; chronic pain management; and podiatry.
The idea for the Multi-Service Clinic came about two years ago during the tenure of Col. Leon Moores, a former Kimbrough commander, who attended Monday's ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"We were building new operating rooms, and the old operating room space on the second floor became available," said Moores, special assistant to the president at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, after the ceremony.
The old operating room space had been used for same-day surgeries and post-operative care.
Last May, Kimbrough opened a new perioperative and post-operative suite for same-day surgeries and post-operative care on the first floor.
Moores said to change the old operating room space to office space would have been expensive. It was decided to use the additional space to provide services that were appropriate for an ambulatory care center based on increased patient demand and the availability of medical personnel.
As a result, colonoscopies, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for upper GI conditions, hand and upper extremity services, and chronic pain management were selected to be offered in a new multi-service clinic.
The clinic had an initial phase-in at the end of last year, but began its first month of care delivery in January.
Gastroenterology services have performed 84 procedures, a 68 percent increase in workload over the same period last year. Two health care providers are on staff to provide GI services every weekday.
The hand and upper extremity specialty is averaging 18 additional operating room cases per month over the same period last year, resulting in a 47 percent increase in the surgical load. Hand surgeries are performed in the new operating rooms on the first floor.
Six orthopedic hand surgeons work one to two days a week. Two of the surgeons work full time, while the other four surgeons are visiting providers from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
The chronic pain management specialty will begin operating next month and will be staffed by an anesthesiologist and a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, both of whom have received extra training in pain management. Each provider is scheduled to see patients one day a week.
Jaghab said the clinic's services are supported by the Joint Task Force National Capital Region, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Before cutting the ceremonial ribbon, Jaghab thanked Moores for his leadership in spearheading the clinic. He also recognized seven Kimbrough employees who contributed to the standup of the multi-service clinic.
They include: Bernadette Hickson, head nurse of Kimbrough's Specialty Care Unit, who received the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service; Lt. Col. Andrew Baxter, assistant deputy commander for nursing; Capt. Gayle Fisher, clinical nurse officer-in-charge of the Multi-Service Clinic; Sgt. Antoni Alatorre, noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the Multi-Service Clinic; Janice Santiago, a clinical nurse in the GI clinic; Morris Brocks, an orthopedic technician in the Musculoskeletal Clinic; and Douglas Steele, a gastroenterology technician in the Multi-Service Clinic.
They all received a commander's coin.
"We are surely becoming the center of excellence in hand and specialty care," Jaghab said. "I'm proud to be able to cut this ribbon in front of you all today."
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