Quantico leadership opening new doors for Marines

Leaders from Quantico Marine Corps base recently took a trip to tour the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, to strengthen their knowledge about the latest treatments and services available to service members and their families at the newest shining star in the southern corridor.

“Overall intent was to showcase the environment that provides care for Quantico’s Marines,” said Capt. Mary Neill, commanding officer of Naval Health Clinic Quantico. “It could begin the discussion on how they can integrate the facility into the overall care of Marines in the national capital area, which includes the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda.”

Service members will still use the Bethesda facility, nearly an hour away from Quantico, but there are special programs at Fort Belvoir, 30 minutes away, offers.

The Fort Belvoir Community Hospital expanded all of the services that were offered at Belvoir’s old DeWitt Army Community Hospital, and added some new services. The expanded services include: emergency services, dermatology, ambulatory surgery, urology, women’s health center, cardiology, ophthalmology and health professions education.

Service members will still go to the Quantico clinic for regular day-to-day care and treatments but for emergency services and specific medical issues that they are not equip to handle, the patient will be referred to Bethesda or Fort Belvoir, depending on the injury or problem.

When it comes to facilities, Fort Belvoir’s new hospital has 430 exam rooms, 10 operating rooms, two DaVinci surgical systems, two linear accelerator cancer/oncology systems, and one of the military’s only dedicated substance abuse treatment programs.

A few of the new services are radiation oncology/linear accelerators, nuclear medicine, endocrinology, multidisciplinary interventional services and behavioral health.

Besides having top medical equipment and staff, Fort Belvoir is at the forefront of evidence-based health care design, said Charles Widener, strategic communications chief of Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.  The facility design creates an environment that is therapeutic, supportive of family involvement and efficient for staff performance. It integrates research-based architectural designs and holistic health care practices that result in improved patient outcomes, privacy, comfort and safety for both patients and the staff at the hospital.

“The best part for me, was honestly listening and watching the engagement of the Marine Corps leaders,” said Neill. Especially when the unit commanders ask the straightforward questions such as ‘how will you take care of my Marines?’”

“This process of the clinic referring patients to the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital has been in the works for a while now. The change is the result of the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005, which led to the closing of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in late July,” said Heidi Linscott, the clinic public affairs officer. “Six years ago, a joint task force was established between the military services to oversee the restructuring of the area’s military health care, and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center eventually took the place of Bethesda National Naval Medical Center, where Quantico patients used to be sent.

“Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Fort Belvoir and Quantico’s Naval Health Clinic are like a great team together,” said Neill. “But if you take one away, then there’s no place for people to go for complex scenarios facilities or you’re over-using a facility at a higher level of care, which is not good for tax payers or the people who really need that care.”

Bethesda has a Marine Corps liaison shop, and the leaders aboard Quantico are working on getting the same Marine Corps presence at Fort Belvoir.

Later in the year, Col. Dan Choike, base commander; Sgt. Maj. Laura Brown, base sergeant major; and Neill will put together a town hall meeting, to introduce the families and Marines to Fort Belvoir’s capabilities and services.

“Our service members and their families deserve state-of-the-art facilities,” said Brown. “The fact that it is closer to Quantico versus traveling to Bethesda is a bonus. It is also a great option for those service members requiring follow on ‘specialty’ care and it has a 24-hour emergency care facility.”