William Beaumont Army Medical Center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Defense Health Agency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Geography | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | El Paso, Texas, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 31°49′58″N106°19′31″W / 31.8327°N 106.3253°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Organization | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Care system | Tricare | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Teaching hospital, General | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Affiliated university | Paul L. Foster School of Medicine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Emergency department | Level II Trauma Center | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Helipad | 31°50′09″N106°19′39″W / 31.8357°N 106.3275°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1849 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | william-beaumont.tricare.mil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fort Bliss Post Hospital (1893) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | El Paso, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1893 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architect | US Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architectural style | Greek Revival, Original porch was Stick Style | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 98000427 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | February 23, 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
New Fort Bliss Post Hospital (1904) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Pershing Road,El Paso,Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1904 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architect | US Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architectural style | Colonial Revival | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 98000427 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
William Beaumont Army Medical Center is a Department of Defense medical facility located in Fort Bliss,Texas. It provides comprehensive care to all beneficiaries including active duty military,their family members,and retirees. The hospital is located in the Central/Northeastern part of El Paso,and provides emergency department services for Northeast El Paso. The current 1.1-million-square-foot,6-building medical complex opened July 10,2021,on East Fort Bliss. [1] WBAMC is affiliated with the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine which is also located in El Paso,Texas. [2] [3] WBAMC is also a participating hospital for medical residents from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) [4] and nursing students from the University of Texas at El Paso School of Nursing and the El Paso Community College Nursing School. [5]
The William Beaumont Army Medical Center (WBAMC),formerly the William Beaumont General Hospital (WBGH),is currently situated northwest of Fort Bliss' main cantonment area,between Fred Wilson Road and Hayes Avenue. The hospital had its beginnings in Fort Bliss during the 1850s. [6] After several earlier moves,Fort Bliss moved to its permanent location at La Noria Mesa in 1893. [7] The hospital is named for Army surgeon William Beaumont [8] (1785–1853),the "Father of Gastric Physiology". [9]
From its beginnings in 1849,the medical units that supported the Army installation in El Paso have moved several times. In January 1854,"The Post of El Paso del Norte",was established on Magoffin's Ranch. [10] This installation at Magoffin's Ranch formally became known as Fort Bliss on 8 March 1854, [11] in honor of Lt. Col. William Wallace Smith Bliss a veteran of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) who was cited for gallantry in action. [12] In 1868,the Army installation was moved to Camp Concordia;back to downtown El Paso in 1878;to Hart's Mill in the 1880s;and finally to La Noria Mesa in 1893 on land donated by El Paso citizens. The La Noria Mesa site remains as the permanent station for Fort Bliss and its medical units. [10]
Remains of the original Army Hospital located at Hart's Mill were uncovered by archaeologists in 2012 near the main campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. [13] The Army used military labor to construct the post hospital at Hart's Mill,which was completed in December 1880. [14]
Fort Bliss was directed to surrender to Confederate forces on 31 Mar 1861 after Texas withdrew from the Union,to include the garrison hospital. [15] [16] Fort Bliss and the hospital remained Confederate until 20 Aug 1862. [15] The retreating Confederate troops destroyed all of Fort Bliss,except for the hospital,which housed their sick and wounded. [16]
The 1890s saw the establishment of a permanent hospital at Fort Bliss in support of a permanent regimental post along the border. Twenty-nine buildings and a parade ground are extant from this period on Fort Bliss and contribute to the Fort Bliss Main Post Historic District,to include the Fort Bliss Fort Hospital,completed in 1893. [17] This building,now known as Building 8,is currently the location of the Fort Bliss Inspector General's Office. [18] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23,1972. [19] [20]
During this period,the hospital supported a skeletal garrison at Fort Bliss,containing never more than 100 soldiers. It was not until 1902 and the end of the Philippine Insurrection that the hospital supported a full complement of troops at Fort Bliss. By 1902 the hospital,along with all the buildings on Fort Bliss,had fallen into disrepair. Lieutenant Colonel H.H. Adams,of the 18th Infantry Regiment,commanded the post in 1902 and reported the hospital steward's quarters needed "extensive repairs." [20]
In his 1903 report,the inspector general found the Fort Bliss hospital was one of several in the Department of Texas showing "defective construction due to inferior material or poor workmanship,or both." The commander of the Department of Texas agreed in the same year,"A new hospital at Fort Bliss is undoubtedly needed." In the summer of 1904,a new department commander,Brigadier General Jesse M. Lee,toured Fort Bliss and wrote a report generally critical of the post. Lee reported a new hospital was being built. [21]
On 1 December 1917,field hospital company 3 departed Fort Bliss,then sailed from Hoboken on 5 December,and arrived at Saint-Nazaire on 22 December,among the last elements of the 1st Infantry Division to arrive in France and later the Western Front. [22]
The first Army dental training school was established at the Fort Bliss Post Hospital in September 1916 by Captain Robert T. Oliver. [23] The dental school at the Fort Bliss Post Hospital served as a model for similar efforts in the mobilization camps after the April 6,1917,declaration of war against Germany. [24]
General Orders No. 40 of the War Department,June 26,1920,stipulated that this new hospital at Fort Bliss be named after Major William Beaumont,one of the most famous surgeons of the "Old Army". William Beaumont General Hospital opened on July 1,1921,and was completed in 1922. It originally consisted of 41 buildings and 403 beds,with an emergency reserve of 100 additional beds. The new hospital buildings were made of tile and stucco. [25]
The construction of WBGH's 48 buildings in 1920–21 signaled the beginning of Fort Bliss's role as a major military medical center. Over the next two decades,WBGH served as both Fort Bliss's station hospital and as a general hospital for the western portion of the Army's 8th Service Command. On staff were six medical officers,two nurses and 30 medical corpsmen. WBGH's original mission was to provide general medical care to border patrol troops stationed at Fort Bliss. By the 1930s,however,the hospital was serving the entire western portion of the Army's Eighth Corps area,providing health care to soldiers stationed at posts in Arizona,New Mexico,and western Texas. [26]
WBGH served as one of many prisoner-of-war hospitals across the United States that supported the prisoner-of-war camps at Fort Bliss and surrounding camps during World War II. [27]
During early 1945,approximately 6,000 inpatients were treated. In addition,a military school for medical technicians offered specialized training in surgical,dental,laboratory,x-ray,pharmacy,and veterinary procedures. The hospital had a fully equipped physical therapy and occupational therapy center. Also,the artificial eye clinic was opened. Later,the hospital expanded into a neuro-psychiatric treatment and orthopedic surgery center. Following the war,WBGH continued to serve the medical needs of Fort Bliss and surrounding military installations until the Army's needs outgrew the capacity of the hospital. During the war,the William Beaumont General Hospital trained approximately 16,000 medical technicians,including over a thousand WAC recruits. The hospital also became a specialty center for plastic surgery,ophthalmic surgery,neuropsychiatry,and deep radiation therapy. In the last year of the war alone,some 26,358 patients received medical treatment at the hospital. [28]
In late 1945,Wernher von Braun and the original 82 members of the Project Paperclip group used one of the old WBGH buildings as their initial laboratory and headquarters as noted by an Army historian:
The von Braun team set up shop in the dusty remains of a former temporary hospital area. The wooden buildings contained no laboratories or equipment but they were the best that could be provided at the time. At least it was a place to begin, and it was close to the new missile firing range at White Sands, New Mexico. [29]
Beaumont was one of only ten of the Army's sixty-three general hospitals retained after World War II. Besides providing medical care to returning wounded soldiers during the conflicts in both Korea and Vietnam, the hospital also provided general medicine and surgical services to veterans and personnel at Fort Bliss and other regional military installations. [28]
In 1969, the Army began construction of a new, 12-story hospital to the west of the WBGH area. Completed in 1972, the new facility became known as the William Beaumont Army Medical Center. The building is in the modernism architectural style, with a 124 ft tower. [30] Although originally designed for 611 beds, by the early 1980s the hospital had a capacity of 463. The Omar N. Bradley building, an addition to the west-side of the main hospital, was opened in 1982; it provides an additional 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of clinical and administrative space. Today, the hospital has a bed capacity of more than 150 patients; during contingencies, the hospital can expand to a capacity of 373 patients. As the Southwest's major regional Army medical center, this modern facility now provides medical care to active and retired military personnel and their dependents in the three-state region of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. [18]
Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Charles C. Pixley, the hospital commander from September 1975 through December 1976, was promoted to lieutenant general in 1977 and became the Surgeon General of the Army. [31] [32]
The Fisher House Foundation, which provides free lodging for military families with a hospitalized relative, operates a facility at WBAMC. [33] [34] It celebrated its 20th anniversary of operation on 22 February 2014. [35]
The design of the WBAMC unit insignia symbolizes some of the highlights of WBAMC's namesake Dr. William Beaumont, Beaumont's patient Alexis St. Martin, the unit's medical tradition, and the unit's location in El Paso. [36]
The fleur-de-lis pointing north refers to Dr. Beaumont's assignment in 1820 to the Northern Michigan outpost of Fort Mackinac. The circular window at the center of the cross refers to Alexis St. Martin's stomach wound which never closed, presenting Beaumont with a window through which he could study the workings of the human stomach. [36] The white and maroon colors are traditional to the US Army Medical Department. [36] [37] [38] The Maltese cross refers to the Knights Hospitallers of medieval times as a symbol of the medical profession. [36] [39] WBAMC's location in El Paso, Texas, is symbolized by the vertical arm of the cross passing between the mountains (in reference to the English translation of El Paso as "the pass") and terminating upon the blue wave which represents the Rio Grande. [36]
The El Paso VA Health Care System has a joint venture with William Beaumont Army Medical Center. This joint venture allows both activities to maximize resource utilization. Through the joint venture, VA purchases emergency department service and inpatient care for acute medical, psychiatric and surgical emergencies. The joint venture has led to unique agreements that have increased patient access in general surgery and vascular surgery. [43]
El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the U.S., the most populous city in West Texas, and the sixth-most populous city in Texas. Its metropolitan statistical area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas, and had a population of 868,859 in 2020.
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss has an area of about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2); it is the largest installation in FORSCOM and second-largest in the Army overall. The portion of the post located in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place with a population of 8,591 as of the time of the 2010 census. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract of restricted airspace in the Continental United States, used for missile and artillery training and testing, and at 992,000 acres boasts the largest maneuver area. The garrison's land area is accounted at 1.12 million acres, ranging to the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Fort Bliss also includes the Castner Range National Monument.
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas. Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the U.S. Senator from Texas, U.S. Representative from Tennessee, Tennessee and Texas governor, and first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston.
The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) is a direct reporting unit of the U.S. Army that formerly provided command and control of the Army's fixed-facility medical, dental, and veterinary treatment facilities, providing preventive care, medical research and development and training institutions. On 1 October 2019, operational and administrative control of all military medical facilities transitioned to the Defense Health Agency.
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), officially known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951, was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on 113 acres (46 ha) in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the United States Armed Forces. The center was named after Walter Reed, a U.S. Army physician and sergeant who led the team that confirmed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct physical contact.
The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD), formerly known as the Army Medical Service (AMS), encompasses the Army's six medical Special Branches. It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July 1775 to coordinate the medical care required by the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The AMEDD is led by the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, a lieutenant general.
The Medical Corps (MC) of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.
Fort Bliss National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in West Texas, located at Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army post adjacent to the city of El Paso. Administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 82.1 acres (33.2 ha), and as of 2014, had over 50,000 interments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Northeast El Paso is part of the city of El Paso, Texas and is located north of Central El Paso, and east of the Franklin Mountains. Its southern boundary is variously given as Fred Wilson Boulevard or Cassidy Road and Van Buren Avenue, and it extends northward to the New Mexico state line; some portions of this region lie outside the city limits, including parts of Franklin Mountains State Park and areas of Fort Bliss: the Logan Heights area of Fort Bliss around Chapin High School and Castner Range National Monument, an old firing range northwest of Hondo Pass Drive and Gateway South Boulevard. Development of Northeast El Paso, which had begun before the Second World War around the Logan Heights area, started in earnest during the 1950s, when many homes were demolished in the process of the construction of Interstate 10. It is one of the more ethnically diverse areas of town due to a high concentration of military families. Northeast El Paso has historically not developed at a rate comparable to East El Paso and Northwest El Paso, but in recent years, it has seen an increase in development. It is expected that the population in Northeast El Paso will grow more rapidly as a result of the troop increase for Fort Bliss in the coming years. Northeast El Paso has gained recognition throughout the city for schools like Parkland, Irvin, Andress and Chapin because of their outstanding athletic programs.
Valley Forge General Hospital is a former military hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The hospital was near both Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Valley Forge. It was the only United States Army General Hospital named for a place.
Chapin High School is a public high school in El Paso, Texas. Chapin is located at the intersection of Dyer Street and Ellerthorpe Avenue. This land is reserved for the United States Government and is a part of the El Paso Independent School District. It is the only high school in the continental United States that is on government property but not owned by the government. The school enrolls over 1,800 students in grades 9 to 12. Nearly half of the students are military dependents from nearby Fort Bliss. The school also accepts students from throughout the city of El Paso as part of its pre-engineering magnet program.
The U.S. Army Medical Department Museum — or AMEDD Museum — at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, originated as part of the Army's Field Service School at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. It moved to Fort Sam Houston in 1946. It is currently a component of the U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School.
Kevin Christopher Kiley is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as the 41st Surgeon General of the United States Army and the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command twice, from 2002 to 2004, and as acting commander, March 1–2, 2007. He submitted his request to retire from the U.S. Army on March 11, 2007, in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal, and was removed from his nominative billet as a lieutenant general. Pending retirement, he was assigned to a temporary billet at the General Officer Management Office at the Pentagon in the grade major general. His retirement in the grade of major general was subsequently approved.
The Madigan Army Medical Center, located on Joint Base Lewis-McChord just outside Lakewood, Washington, is a key component of the Madigan Healthcare System and one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast of the United States.
The U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCoE) is located at Fort Sam Houston, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. MEDCoE comprises the 32d Medical Brigade, the U.S. Army Medical Professional Training Brigade (MPTB), and the AMEDD Noncommissioned Officers Academy (NCOA). It serves the U.S. Army in educating and training all of its medical personnel. The Center formulates the Army Medical Department's (AMEDD's) organization, tactics, doctrine, equipment, and academic training support. In 2015, the mission for the Academy of Health Sciences (AHS) moved from the School to the Center, and was renamed the Department of Training and Academic Affairs (DoTAA) as result of a reorganization.
Charles Calvin Pixley was the 34th Surgeon General of the United States Army, serving in that capacity from October 1, 1977, to September 20, 1981.
El Paso–Juárez, also known as Juárez–El Paso, the Borderplex or Paso del Norte, is a transborder agglomeration, on the border between Mexico and the United States. The region is centered on two large cities: Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, U.S. Additionally, nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S., is sometimes included as part of the region, referred to as El Paso–Juárez–Las Cruces or El Paso–Juárez–Southern New Mexico. With over 2.7 million people, this binational region is the 2nd largest conurbation on the United States–Mexico border. The El Paso–Juárez region is the largest bilingual, binational work force in the Western Hemisphere.
The United States Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Captains Career Course (CCC) is an Officer Advance Course (OAC) taught at Fort Sam Houston, Texas that provides graduate level leadership training for all six special officer branches (corps) in the AMEDD.
The Fort Bliss shooting occurred on January 6, 2015, when Jerry Serrato, a 48-year-old U.S. Army veteran, fatally shot Dr. Timothy Fjordbak, a psychologist, at the Veteran's Affairs clinic located on the grounds of William Beaumont Army Medical Center of Fort Bliss, Texas. No further casualties were reported during the shooting. However, the shooting and the subsequent emergency response resulted in the lock-down of the hospital and two nearby schools for nearly two hours while law enforcement officials worked to resolve the situation.
The 1st Medical Brigade is a medical brigade of the United States Army. It is located at Fort Cavazos, Texas, providing health care and medical services to the Fort Cavazos community, and continuing training in its combat support mission.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)This article contains information that originally came from US Government publications and websites and is in the public domain.