NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Military Health leaders and prominent members of the Las Vegas community came together at Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center’s newly constructed Emergency Room for a ribbon cutting ceremony Nov. 10, 2021.
The ceremony was hosted by Col. Brent Johnson, commander, 99th Medical Group. The Keynote speakers were Director of the Defense Health Agency Lt. Gen. Ronald Place and Chief of the Medical Service Corps and former 99th Medical Group commander Brig. Gen. Alfred Flowers.
The new MOMMC Emergency Department is a state-of-the-art facility featuring two triage rooms, two trauma rooms, seven “fast-track” rooms, and 13 treatment rooms.
In addition to celebrating the completed building construction, leaders recognized the 99th Medical Group’s strong community partnerships.
“Leaders here understand that building and sustaining a ready medical force means that we need to build a more comprehensive and integrated relationship with our civilian partners in the community,” said Place.
For almost 20 years, both military and civilian medical resources in the Las Vegas area have combined to support the readiness effort of 99th Medical Group medics. Air Force medics have integrated into civilian settings in order to develop and sustain clinical skills necessary in combat areas. Up until recently, these efforts have been limited to civilian medical environments.
Now, MOMMC has opened its Emergency Department doors to civilian patients arriving by local ambulance. This allows Air Force medics even more opportunities to develop and refine valuable life-saving medical skills necessary for expeditionary environments.
Johnson emphasized the bi-direction benefit this initiative signifies. “By caring for our fellow citizens in an area identified as an area of need by the State of Nevada without a hospital in the immediate area, we help our community, while enabling Air Force medics to maintain clinical readiness skills needed in combat,” he said.
Opening of MOMMC’s new Emergency Department to civilian patients represents an investment in the expansion of a unique training platform, found nowhere else in the Air Force.
“There’s really nowhere comparable in the Air Force that has the same combination of great teammates, great training and an opportunity to expand in the future,” Johnson noted.
Leaders are optimistic that the success of this initiative will serve as an example to other Military Treatment Facilities and the healthcare infrastructure as a whole.
“Today’s ribbon-cutting is not just about the completion of the bricks and mortar. It’s about a commitment to the future of what trauma care should look like in this community, and serves as a reminder of what integrated trauma care can look like in any community,” said Place.
Next up for MOMMC is becoming Level III Trauma Center designated. Projected to occur sometime in 2022, the designation will be followed by American College of Surgeons verification. This will allow MOMMC’s medics to care for critically injured trauma patients and vastly increase both medical capability in Northeast Las Vegas and military medical readiness at Nellis.