Plans for new-look Landstuhl fine-tuned

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Plans for new-look Landstuhl fine-tuned
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A five-story inpatient tower would stand as the new face of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center if funding for the estimated $391 million project is approved.

An eight-member team from the States wrapped up a seven-day visit to Landstuhl on Tuesday that fine-tuned the plan, which will be submitted to the Department of Defense’s Tricare Management Activity by late May.

If approved, the project could be the first of two proposed phases that would entirely replace the 1950s-era, spine-and-rib-configured hospital with modern towers. Officials are submitting the first phase of the project in hope of receiving funding in fiscal 2010, with construction taking three to four years.

Since 2001, Landstuhl has treated almost 47,000 wounded and sick troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, the hospital provides health care to U.S. troops and their families in Europe and is the largest American hospital outside the U.S. Only in the past two years has air conditioning been installed in the hospital.

“I think it’s absolutely critical that we get the appropriate facility to take care of our soldiers and their family members here at Landstuhl,” said Carolyn Bulliner, a facility planner with the Army Health Facility Planning Agency. “It’s an enduring installation. The mission is enduring. We think that, with the understanding that the work we’re doing with the war and in this theater is going to continue … we’ve got a lot of interest and momentum right now to move this project forward.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53927