Katrina Damage Turns Gulfport into 'Premier' Military Medical Facility
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS050914-28
Release Date: 9/14/2005 2:53:00 PM
By Rod Duren, Naval Hospital Pensacola Public Affairs
PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- Naval Branch Health Clinic Gulfport, Miss., has become the "premier military medical facility" on the Louisiana-Mississippi Gulf Coast by default, following the devastation Hurricane Katrina caused to the Air Force's second largest medical/surgical hospital in Biloxi.
Keesler Air Force Base, a training and medical center, is the second-largest in the Air Force, and was badly damaged by flooding and has been shut down except for emergency services operating out of tents in the parking lot.
"We are the premier medical facility [on the Louisiana-Mississippi Gulf Coast] whether we want to be or not," said Chief Hospital Corpsman Christopher Boswell, of the Gulfport health clinic which is, by design, a primary healthcare facility for Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport's base population of Seabees and their families.
"You guys are amazing...and I'm very proud of you," said Capt. Charles Harris, director of branch clinics at the clinic's parent command at Naval Hospital (NH) Pensacola, Fla., during his most recent visit to Gulfport Sept. 12.
The mid-size clinic, one of five Navy health facilities affected by the hurricane, handling an overflow of Keesler's defense healthcare system-eligible population.
"Primary care is covered...at least for the time being," said Capt. Bob Hoyt, an internal medicine specialist on loan from NH Pensacola.
However, the clinic is beginning to take on an even larger volume of patients by providing some elements of healthcare to Keesler's elderly patients, which is stretching the limits of primary care within the Gulfport facility.
The Department of Defense's healthcare insurance system, known as TRICARE, will play a major role in providing additional primary and specialty care through a network of civilian physicians throughout the region.
In order to supplement the Gulfport clinic, NH Pensacola has transported several members of its hospital staff to beef up the clinic, and also has requested and inserted at least three Naval Reserve personnel - a family practitioner from Pensacola and two nurses from Birmingham, Ala.
Navy Reserve Nurse Lt. Allyson Lewter, a critical care nurse within the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) hospital system, is on a 3-week assignment to Gulfport and has been assisting with the military sick call, treatment of injuries, immunizations "and whatever needs to be done," she said.
"So many have lost family and possessions," she continued. "Whatever we can do to help them to get them back on their feet has been very worthwhile. It's been a pleasure to support a community so much in need."
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