Photo By Jean Graves | FORT JOHNSON, La. – The relocation of the Fontaine Troop Medical Clinic and the Fort...... read more read more
FORT JOHNSON, La. — The Fontaine Troop Medical Clinic and the Fort Johnson Department of Public Health will relocate to Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital on April 1, a move aimed at improving patient care and efficiency while saving the Defense Health Agency nearly $19 million in long-term maintenance costs. This move will allow for the elimination of World War II-era buildings and support modernization efforts at the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Johnson, Louisiana.
Despite years of discussion about the move, it was the 2024 Fort Johnson Forging New Leaders course that was tasked with researching and presenting the pros and cons of the relocation to the hospital and garrison commanders for action.
The team, composed of DHA and Installation Management Command employees, evaluated the feasibility of moving outlying clinics to BJACH’s main campus. Theresa Watson from the Fort Johnson Directorate of Public Works, along with Sarah Sonderman, Jessica Deason and Julieth
Hernandez from BJACH, methodically explored hospital floor plans, assessed available space, conducted an inventory of personnel and equipment, and performed an operational and maintenance cost analysis before presenting their findings and recommendations.
Sarah Sonderman, a medical support assistant in the BJACH Behavioral Health Department, said her team worked on the project for 10 months.
“Our team dug deep to determine the best course of action to help the hospital save money,” she said. “We presented three courses of action for DHA leadership to choose from, with the best cost-saving option being to move the outlying clinics into the hospital.”
Sonderman said this will increase access to care for both Soldiers and their Families.
“It eliminates travel time for patients from the FTMC and DPH for any ancillary services,” she said. “Having all the clinics co-located within the main campus of BJACH will also be beneficial for staff by providing better access to our dining facility, gym, resiliency room and snack area. This will increase staff efficiency as well for hospital-wide events and meetings.”
Col. Alisa Wilma, BJACH commander, said the FTMC and public health clinics were planned and built decades ago for an installation that had a much larger population and no longer makes sense from a staffing and fiscal perspective.
“The consolidation of the FTMC and DPH into the main hospital is going to be a big benefit for our patients and the installation by allowing us to centralize their care,” she said. “Currently, patients who use these clinics are referred to the hospital for further diagnostic work. With this consolidation, they’ll be able to do that simply by walking across the lobby.”
Wilma said the clinical consolidation will improve teamwork.
“Centralizing services in the hospital is going to allow for greater collaboration and more advanced options for our patients and staff,” she said.
Wilma added that BJACH is always looking for improved processes to better serve the Fort Johnson community.
“This move will let us bring a more efficient and comprehensive care package to our beneficiaries,” she said.
Nathan Jernigan, director of public works for U.S. Army Garrison Fort Johnson, said his team will move into the buildings being vacated by DPH and FTMC as soon as possible.
“These facilities will transform into the DPW Center of Excellence, providing our customer base a one-stop shop for base operations, work reception services, engineering, infrastructure planning and project development,” he said.
Jernigan said upon their relocation, the garrison will realize immediate cost savings with reductions in energy consumption.
“Many of the programs and services that will be housed in our new footprint are currently in World War II-era wood-constructed facilities,” he said. “These antiquated facilities are ‘energy hogs,’ meaning that because of how they were constructed, it costs far more to heat and cool them than modern facilities.”
Jernigan said demolishing the World War II-era buildings will allow for new development and modernization.
“As our senior mission and garrison commanders routinely comment, ‘quality of life includes the workplace.’ Relocating multiple DPW teams into modern facilities will increase the morale of our dedicated team members,” he said. “The layout of the FTMC and DPH facilities, along with the co-location of multiple teams from diverse divisions, will allow for even greater collaboration, process efficiency gains, and opportunities to further personal and professional relationships among the public works team.”
Johnny Bevers, deputy garrison commander for Fort Johnson, echoed Wilma and Jernigan.
“This is great for the installation,” he said. “It integrates services at BJACH and enables the installation to consolidate DPW operations, which saves money.”
Bevers said the moves will save the hospital $100,000 in operational costs annually and the installation $50 million in new construction costs.
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2025 16:58 |
| Story ID: | 491413 |
| Location: | FORT JOHNSON, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 832 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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