By Patricia Deal
CRDAMC Public Affairs
FORT HOOD (Now designated Fort Cavazos), Texas—Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center celebrated the opening of its fourth community-based medical home with a ribbon-cutting ceremony November 6.
The West Killeen Medical Home at 5200 Bunny Trail Dr. is the second community-based medical home in Killeen. It officially opened for patients October 1 and is expected to support nearly 8,500 family members and retirees.
“I’m excited for what this ribbon cutting ceremony symbolizes for our community. This is yet another amazing facility that will help us care for our Soldiers’ families and retirees. You deserve nothing less than high quality safe care with an exceptional experience every single time. We at CRDAMC, and now this new medical home, are proud to make it easier for you in this community to access your exceptional care in a far more convenient location,” said Col. David Gibson, CRDAMC commander. “By ensuring our families are taken care of, we can remain focused on what is the most important thing for CRDAMC—taking care of Soldiers so we can focus on improving the readiness of Soldiers and our medical professionals.”
The new West Killeen Medical Home, along with the CRDAMC’s Killeen, Copperas Cove and Harker Heights medical homes, are part of Army medicine’s patient-centered, primary healthcare model that uses a team-based, comprehensive approach to meet the health and wellness needs of beneficiaries throughout the Military Health System. The clinics, complete with pharmacies and labs, are based where patients live, thus making access to care more convenient.
“Community based medical homes have been around about a decade and we can see clear benefits of the comprehensive, team-based approach to care that’s provided in each facility. These homes demonstrate the commitment that Army Medicine has pledged to Soldiers, in this case to their families,” said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Johnson, commanding general, Regional Health Command-Central, who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. “We know that delivering quality, comprehensive medical care is a key factor in improving the health and wellness of our Soldiers’ families, which contributes directly to the Soldiers’ resiliency. Better resiliency is a necessary element in readiness and directly translates to the strength and lethality of our force.”
Johnson added that this this certainly wasn’t the way Army health care was 20-30 years ago, but that this is where Army Medicine sees itself and where it’s going in the future.
“To be able to put a facility like this in a place that can make meeting the needs of our patients more convenient, is right where we need to be,” he said.
The convenient location is definitely a bright spot for Sgt. 1st Class John Hilburn, his wife Alyssa and their three children.
“I couldn’t be happier knowing my family is able to get medical care so close to home. I don’t have to worry about my wife having to load up the kids, shuffling them from their neighborhood to come all the way on-post, waiting around for prescriptions,” the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division Soldier said.
“We live right down the road on Bunny Trail so it couldn’t get more convenient for us,” said Alyssa, who helped cut the ribbon with her husband and seven-month old son, Preston. “Two of my kids are in school near here so I save time taking them back and forth to appointments. It really is so easy. Plus, I love my doctor. She knows my kids well and is always so attentive and personable.”
