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Air Force May Reduce Facilities at Biloxi, Miss., Medical Center

Posted on: Thursday, 15 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 15--BILOXI -- Even after those in South Mississippi believed Keesler Medical Center would remain fully operational, the hospital could be scaled back because of the Air Force's interpretation of the Base Re-alignment and Closure commission's verdict.

The Air Force is considering scaling back the Medical Center to a "community hospital," according to an Air Force document given to the Sun Herald. The Air Force reasons that language in the BRAC verdict could allow them to re-classify the Medical Center as a community hospital.

Under the Air Force definition of a community hospital, Keesler would lose its graduate medical education program, which trains more than 100 doctors and nurses per year.

Word of the changes proposed at Keesler took Mississippi's congressional delegation by surprise. The delegation had worked with the Mississippi Military Communities Council to fight the Department of Defense recommendations before the BRAC commission.

Brig. Gen. Jim Dougherty, commander of Keesler Medical Center, acknowledged that the document given to the Sun Herald was an Air Force document that he had seen. Dougherty said he was baffled by media reports at the time that said the hospital had been spared.

"When we heard it, listening to TV, we scratched our heads and said has anybody heard of this definition before, because it was something new to us. It wasn't our business to know this stuff, working with the commission's definition," Dougherty said. "Subsequently, when they made their amendment, we searched through their minutes and figured it out, but that was after the fact."

When Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, the Medical Center took flooding in the first floor and lost its backup generator. Both pharmacies were damaged and the hospital lost millions of dollars in pharmaceuticals stored there.

Dougherty said Medical Center personnel have discussed the plan being floated by the Air Force. He said military personnel deal with "contingency plans" on a regular basis, and that no decision regarding Keesler is final until it is signed by the president. President Bush is expected to send the BRAC's recommendation to Congress today.

Dougherty said the BRAC commissioners can make changes to the ruling before the report is given to the president. Dougherty would not answer questions about the legality of the Air Force's actions in defining a "community hospital."

Air Force Lt. Gen. Clark Griffith (Ret.), who fought the Department of Defense recommendation to scale back Keesler to a super clinic in a presentation before the commission, said he thinks the confusion lies with the difference between what the Air Force defines as a community hospital and the BRAC commission's idea of a community hospital.

Griffith worked with the Mississippi Military Communities Council, which was established by the governor's office to defend installations from closure. Griffith's presentation at the regional hearing in New Orleans was part of the reason the commission decided to keep Keesler intact.

Griffith questioned the Air Force's ability to define a "community hospital."

"It is a technical foul because if in fact they wanted to scale Keesler back more than the report and they wanted to do away with the graduate medical education program, they had to have an add," Griffith said.

Brian Martin, policy director for U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said Taylor's office was not prepared to comment on the Air Force plan because they were just getting word of it, but that they and the rest of the congressional delegation expect to meet with Air Force officials by the end of the week.

Lee Youngblood, a spokesman for Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who learned of the proposed change when contacted by the Sun Herald, also said they had heard some rumors regarding the Keesler situation, but his office had been tied up working with issues related to Hurricane Katrina, which underscores the need for the hospital.

"The senator believes a community hospital should mean having the same services as prior to BRAC and prior to Katrina. Considering the hurricane, that is even more reason to keep this facility intact," Youngblood said.

Griffith said the timing of the Air Force recommendation is poor. The BRAC commission completed its work on Aug. 25, three days before Katrina struck. The Air Force plan has developed since then.

"There is something about picking on a cripple that doesn't set well. Now you're adding to the misery," Griffith said. "It is not good timing. This is not something within their purview to do."

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To see more of The Sun Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sunherald.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

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