David Grant USAF Medical Center at Travis AFB, Calif., is the Air Force's largest medical center in the continental United States. Serving military beneficiaries throughout eight western states, it represents a major milestone in the history of the
Air Force Medical Service.
One of the premier
Joint Commission-accredited teaching hospitals in the United States, DGMC is named in honor of
Dr. (Maj. Gen.) David Norvell Walker Grant, USAAF, MC (1891-1964), the first Surgeon General of the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Army Air Forces.
Background
The flagship military treatment facility in the United States Air Force, DGMC provides a full spectrum of care to a prime service area population of more than 500,000 Department of Defense and
Department of Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System eligible beneficiaries in the immediate San Francisco-Sacramento vicinity from 17 counties covering 40,000 square miles.
DGMC currently operates with an annual budget of $315 million and is staffed by more than 2,500 personnel, which includes 646 active duty officers, 933 enlisted personnel, 70 Individual Mobilization Augmentee reservists, 311 civil service civilians, 270 contractors, 100 Veterans Affairs personnel, 70 Red Cross workers and 200 highly dedicated military retiree volunteers.
Based on Fiscal Year 2013 data, total patient encounters numbered more than 1.7 million. An "average day" at DGMC consists of more than 1,586 outpatient visits, 61 Emergency Room visits, 13 ER admissions, 156 dental appointments, 2,230 prescriptions filled, two babies delivered, 1,655 meals served, 550 radiographs (X-rays) taken, 20 patients admitted, nine Hyperbaric treatments, 55 unique surgical procedures, 16 operations, 65 daily inpatients and 1,903 lab tests conducted.
DGMC is also one of two inpatient mental health AFMS facilities and has a modern 12-bed medical/surgical intensive care unit.
The present state-of-the-art medical center opened its doors on December 19, 1988 at a cost of $193 million through a unique design-build contract. This enabled the project to be completed ahead of schedule and $8 million below original budget projections. DGMC is divided into three separate patient zones composed of inpatient nursing units, diagnostic and treatment areas, and outpatient clinics all designed around five large courtyards, which provide orientation for staff and patients, as well as natural lighting and views for patient rooms.
DGMC encompasses over 808,465 net square feet with 3,662 rooms. It is currently staffed to operate 84 inpatient beds (expandable to 176), 16 aeromedical staging flight beds (expandable to 40) and 52 dental treatment rooms in the adjacent
Arthur J. Sachsel Dental Clinic.
With a "footprint" measuring greater than two football fields in width and almost four football fields in length, the horizontal nature of the medical center is quite impressive.
The facility has received five national awards for design and construction, is built to withstand major earthquakes, and can operate for up to a week using internal utility capabilities. Additionally, key structural members and foundations are sized for future vertical expansion.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
Aeromedical Staging Facility
The 60th
Aeromedical Staging Flight is one of only three in the United States responsible for providing care on a worldwide basis for Wounded Warriors traveling in the aeromedical evacuation system. It is the sole Air Force-bedded ASF on the West coast, serving as the "jumping off" point for the Pacific theater. From FY '05 to date, more than 3,600 patients from Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM have passed through the ASF, averaging a monthly census of 30 patients with more than 40 Department of Veterans Affairs patients transferred to VA Palo Alto for treatment.
Graduate Medical Education
DGMC operates the second largest graduate medical education program in the Air Force with 11 resident programs, consisting of five Medical, three dental, and three allied health sciences with over 100 residents in training, averaging 40 graduates per year with a greater than 95% board pass rate at any given time. A certified registered nurse anesthetist class in conjunction with the U.S. Army's graduate program in anesthesia nursing at Ft. Sam Houston/Baylor College is ranked #1 out of 112 programs in the United States.
DGMC's
Family Medicine program with 42 residents in surgical, radiological, and transitional courses is the largest in Air Force. The general surgery and internal medicine residency programs treat civilian and military patients in partnership with the University of California at Davis. Diagnostic radiology, transitional year, advance education in general dentistry, oral & maxillofacial surgery, pharmacy practice and social work residency programs round out the suite of GME programs.
Additionally, DGMC offers six Phase II training programs for enlisted medical technicians (Aerospace medical services apprentice, Surgical services apprentice, Cardiopulmonary, Diagnostic imaging, Diagnostic ultrasound and Laboratory) and a nurse transition program for more than 310 students annually.
VA/DoD Sharing - Joint Incentive Fund
DGMC has become a specialty care referral hub for Northern California Veterans Health Administration patients with an inpatient/outpatient care and facility sharing agreement. VA/DoD Joint Venture programs include the $1.6 million Hemodialysis and $610,000 Peritoneal Dialysis units. A $5.5 million
Joint Spine and Neurosurgery service was added in 2007.
A $6.7 million
Joint Inpatient Mental Health Unit and a $5.7 million
Joint Radiation Oncology Center were upgraded to state-of-the-art services in 2009. Meanwhile, a $4.4 million
Heart, Lung and Vascular Center, featuring a robotically-assisted hybrid cardiovascular operating room (one of less than a dozen of its type in the nation and the only one in DoD), opened its doors to patients in October 2010. Additionally, DGMC provides
Hyperbaric Medicine support for VA San Francisco and VA Palo Alto Medical Centers.
Readiness Platform
Because it is a military medical center, DGMC personnel are "America's First Choice" as the Air Force's second largest medical readiness platform. DGMC personnel have performed expeditionary medical missions for both combat support and humanitarian missions, ranging from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Indonesian Tsunami to Hurricane Rita, California wildfires and Haiti earthquake relief efforts.
DGMC also fulfills a key role in the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Framework as the Sacramento region Federal Coordinating Center for the
National Disaster Medical System.
As one of the Air Force's constant deployer model sites, DGMC personnel are currently providing the lead support to the Craig Joint Theater Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan.
DGMC fields over 1,500 mobility positions with over 700 personnel holding 150 different Air Force specialty codes, filling primary deployment roles on 114 different standard unit type codes. The current steady state has approximately 150 medical personnel deployed in support of Aerospace Expeditionary Force rotations and humanitarian missions "Anytime, Anywhere" -- while ensuring world-class medical care and service to its customers at home.
(Current as of 9 July 2014)