Published: June 30, 2009 10:04 pm      

Tinker medical center is under way

Midwest City — Col. Robert Marks, 72nd Medical Group commander on Tinker Air Force Base, said that major ground movement is occurring every day on the site of Tinker’s future medical center.

The base had a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility June 15, although work on the area had started about two weeks prior.

Marks said the hospital is slated to be completed in fall 2011.

“We’re hopeful that it may be done earlier, but that’s what’s in the contract,” he said.

The new medical facility will be 170,000 square feet of clinic and office space. The space is 20,000 feet smaller than the current hospital. With more glass and better insulation, the new building will be more energy efficient than the current hospital as well.

Although the hospital switched to an outpatient facility in 1995, it was designed and built as an inpatient facility. Because of this, Marks said there is a lot of space that isn’t being used efficiently. The hallways were built wide to accommodate beds. Old patient rooms have been renovated into office space and clinics, and old operating rooms are closed. Marks said the new medical facility will be built as an outpatient facility, tailored to the needs and services that the facility provides its patients.

The project is expected to cost $55 million and was a part of this year’s budget. The new medical facility will be near the Gott Gate off S.E. 59th Street and Air Depot Boulevard. All of the staff from the old facility are expected to make the move to the new building.

Tinker has been serving active military and veterans in the current hospital since the 1960s, Marks said. In the May 3, 1999, tornadoes, the hospital took a hit and received significant damage. Although changes have been made to modify the damaged areas, the hospital still is not in the shape it needs to be, Marks said. As administrators looked into various avenues of repair, they found that building a new medical facility was the best use of their money.

Marks said the current medical center provides pharmaceutical, outpatient surgery, immunizations, chiropractic, optometry, mental health, dental, public health, lab, radiology, physical therapy, gynecology, pediatric and family practice services to its beneficiaries. He noted that the medical center has about 23,000 enrolled patients who view the facility as their primary care provider.