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Winn breaks ground on more expansion
Project will include new ER and renovations to pharmacy, clinics
Maj. Yvette McCrea LTC Jennifer Wiley Col. Ron Place Brig. Gen. John Hort Kevin Kuntz Maj. Brian Tritten and LTC Ross Davidson
Maj. Yvette McCrea, Lt. Col. Jennifer Wiley, Col. Ron Place, Brig. Gen. John Hort, Kevin Kuntz, Maj. Brian Tritten and Lt. Col. Ross Davidson prepare to break ground Thursday on Winn Army Community Hospitals Phase II expansion. - photo by Randy C.Murray

Military and community leaders gathered Thursday morning outside Winn Army Community Hospital for a groundbreaking ceremony, kicking off construction of the hospital’s Phase II expansion.

According to Winn Public Affairs Officer Michelle Gordon, simultaneous construction projects will include a new, two-story, 44,000-square-foot emergency room and an additional 55,000 square feet in renovations to the hospital’s pharmacy, dining facility and 11 other clinics and departments.

Moreover, she said, the Phase II construction project will include 234 additional parking spaces on the northeast side of the hospital. Winn Army Community Hospital serves the medical needs of more than 25,000 active-duty and retired soldiers and their families.

“This hospital was built in the spring of 1983, and it was a state-of-the-art facility at that time,” said Col. Ron Place, commander at Winn and Medical and Dental Activity Command for Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield. “But it’s 30 years old. It doesn’t meet the needs of a deployable Army with families ... We have to be prepared to move forward as the demands of our Army and beneficiaries change.”

Place pointed out several new features recently constructed at the hospital, including the new magnetic resonance imaging building, a treatment center for traumatic brain injuries and the Phase I construction project that he said will be completed later this year. That 65,000 square-foot project will include muscular-skeletal, orthopedic, podiatry and both physical and occupational therapy on the first floor and behavior-health and social-work services on the second floor.

While noting the architectural design of the new additions will be the same, he admitted construction will be inconvenient for staff and patients with both the dining facility and pharmacy having to be moved to temporary locations.

Place said the estimated cost for the construction project is $34 million, with an additional $15 million allocated for new equipment that will be used in the new facilities. The dining facility will be completely renovated with all-new equipment and nearly double the seating capacity, he said.


Read more in the Jan. 12 edition of the News.

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