The Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), California, Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care (C5) facility is expanding its prosthetics lab.
The first phase was completed October 1. It involved filling the therapy pool with gravel and capping it with concrete to make room for two additional treatment rooms, a check-in area, storage space, and a second set of parallel bars. Furniture and the new set of parallel bars were then scheduled for installation. The second phase, which commences October 21, will renovate the existing prosthetics fabrication room, which will increase capability and capacity. It is scheduled to be completed the first week of November.
“The expansion is great because it will allow us to add new staff, and the installation of a second set of parallel bars will allow us to get two wounded warriors up on their legs at the same time, which will relieve some of the congestion in that area,” said Lt. Cmdr. Wendy Stone, the C5 program’s deputy director.
The C5 patients have unique health care needs, she added. “[They’re] high-performance athletes, so they don’t just require walking limbs and a backup, which are the basics that we give them; they also want a running leg, a surfing leg, and a swimming leg. We want to be able to fulfill that requirement. The expansion will allow C5 staff members to continue to give patients the best possible care.”
C5 was established in 2007. At the time, the prosthetics department was designed to support the care of 40 patients with single amputations. Currently, the facility treats about 100 active-duty service members and 50 retirees, many with multiple amputations. In fiscal year 2011, C5 fitted patients with 418 devices to include feet, ankles, legs, hands, and arms. In the first three quarters of 2012, C5 has fitted patients with 470 devices.
