The new hospital is scheduled to be completed by 2016 and will be located just north of the current hospital, which was built in 1966. The new facility will be a community based hospital providing emergency, obstetrical, and general surgery services. It will have a full contingent of ancillary services to include pharmacy, laboratory, and radiology departments. Also included in the construction will be a water treatment plant for the hospital.
The hospital will serve 15,000 active duty Service Members, Family members and retirees, who are stationed at or live on Fort Irwin and the surrounding High Desert communities.
Besides being a state-of-the-art medical facility, the hospital will boast a carbon-neutral efficiency. Carbon neutrality signifies that the hospital will generate more power than it uses. Though the hospital will draw on the local grid during the night, it will more than make up for its electricity consumption by harnessing the power of sunlight. A “farm” of solar panels in the open desert adjacent to the hospital will convert the sun’s light to electricity.
The hospital will also support units (brigade-size) that rotate in and out, 10 times per year.
