Renovations to Ross Clinic slated for December Published Oct. 21, 2011 GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- In early December, the Ross Clinic will start a yearlong $5.5 million renovation project, which will revamp 80 percent of the clinic. While some of the services offered at the Ross Clinic may be temporarily curtailed, the clinic will continue to operate during the renovation project. During the renovation, some administrative functions will be temporarily relocated to portable offices at north of the Ross Clinic. To minimize the impact for patients, the renovation will be done in five phases. PHASE ONE Phase one begins early December and should end in late January. This phase consists of painting and light construction work to the following areas: laboratory, dental X-Ray, the physical therapy and dental bathrooms, radiology, public health, general administrative areas, information systems, and bioenvironmental. During phase one, a consolidated deployment medicine cell, consisting of public health, optometry and immunizations will be built, and a unified waiting area will be created for these functions. PHASE TWO The second phase of renovation begins in January and is slated to end in March. Areas impacted by this phase include: dental, pediatrics, flight medicine, and family health's south exam rooms. PHASE THREE Phase three begins in March and is scheduled to end in May. Phase three will impact the dental clinic's north treatment rooms, family health's north exam rooms and the student clinic. PHASE FOUR Phases four and five include the most visible evidence of the renovation project. Phase four begins in late April and is scheduled to end in late July. This phase includes the remainder of the dental clinic, the main lobby and family health admitting. Improvements include a new skylight over the main clinic waiting area to bring natural light into the main lobby, an expansion of the main waiting area larger, but distinct seating areas, and three check-in windows to increase the speed of check-in. Patients may experience some short-lived inconveniences as the main waiting area is temporarily reduced to accommodate the phase four renovation. PHASE FIVE Phase five begins in July and is slated to end in October. It includes repainting and re-flooring the dental lobby, an expanded pharmacy with an additional window and private consulting area, and finishing touches to the main lobby. It also includes construction of a new customer service centric combined business office to house both TRICARE and the Referral Management Center. In addition to the Ross Clinic renovation project, the Medical Group campus is expanding. A $700,000 construction project was awarded at the end of fiscal year 2011 to build a new 1,800 square foot building east of the current mental health building. The new building will be staffed by bioenvironmental and information systems offices. This project is slated to start in May with a November completion date. Benefits from both the renovation and new building include realignment of major services, improved patient flow, creation of the deployment medicine cell, expanded pharmacy capacity, creation of the new business office, and an overall improvement in the utilization of clinical space. FMI: Capt. David Abbott, (325) 654-3088 or 1st Lt Xiao Ren, (325) 654-3067. (Courtesy of the 17th Medical Group.)
