MacDill shows off new medical facility

The medical center that has served MacDill Air Force Base personnel, retirees and their families since 1956 has been replaced by a $104 million state-of-the-art facility.

The 254,000-square-foot building that opened Sept. 28 provides an array of medical and dental services under one roof, said Col. Dennis Beatty, commander of the 6th Medical Group headquartered at the South Tampa base.

During the week of the phased move, the base had the unique distinction of having both the newest and oldest medical facilities in the Air Force, Beatty said during Thursday's tour for the media.

The eight buildings that housed the 53-year-old facility are being razed.

The facility's latest equipment includes a high-resolution 64-slice CAT scan. "The newer technology helps us with capacity, and it also increases the speed at which we get the patients through," reducing time from about 15 minutes to three minutes, Beatty said. Similar time savings are realized with the facility's new MRI apparatus, encased in a copper-lined chamber.

As a cost-saving measure, several of the nation's remote air bases lacking radiologists transmit patients' MRIs and other digital images to Tampa for analysis by MacDill radiologists, Beatty said.

Specialty services at the new 6th Medical Group headquarters include cardiology, internal medicine, chiropractics, dermatology, physical therapy and sleep disorders. The facility serves not only Air Force personnel but Air Force retirees and dependents of each group.

The facility provides dental care in a facility 4,000 square feet larger than in the old building, said Col. Gregory Canney, dental squadron commander.

The space provides seven additional treatment rooms, for a total of 29, plus a larger dental lab. "It's a great state-of-the art facility," Canney said, with a staff of 10 dentists, three specialists and hygienists.

The medical facility specially designed for outpatient care does not have an emergency room, but its network of medical partners range from Tampa General Hospital to individual specialists, Beatty said.

A 1 p.m., Nov. 6 ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled.