list of hospitals

hey, jenn!

do you know where i might find a list of all of the military hospitals? aka, list of possible locations that we might be sent to after residency? are there "air force" hospitals or are they all up for grabs?

thanks!

In my husband's specialty, (OB/GYN) the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) is divided into districts and the armed forces has their own district, which is divided into Air Force, Army, and Navy sections. All of these have websites and list (at certain times of the year) which hospitals will have openings for the coming year. If there is anything similar for surgery, you may find some information there. How close is your husband to finishing residency?

Ooooh THANK YOU for the info! Hmmm, I guess it's neither good news nor bad news! If you all remember, I am the sour puss about the military obligations. I hate to sound like a homegirl but I just want to move back to where all of our families and friends are! We had a slight crisis last night because I just started thinking about all of it and counting the years until we would be in driving distance of everyone - and it just seemed like forever! 2 more years here, then 1-2 years of fellowship, and then these 4 years with the AF. My parents are going to be like 70 by the time they can see their daughter, son-in-law and future grandchildren on a regular basis! It's really an overwhelming thought right now.



Soooo, we discussed where they might plant us - and I was wondering how much choice we would have in the matter? If we have to do it, I would be so much happier if we were within say a 4-5 hour driving distance of everyone - I researched which bases were near there this morning and found 2 larger ones - one is Langley in VA and the other is Andrews in MD.



Urrrrrgh. And what are the chances that they just won't need him? Is there even a .001 chance because I can be an optimistic person - that is enough for me. Or has anyone in the history of military obligations been able to just say hey, I made a mistake, can I just pay it back?



I know, it won't be that bad. . .I can't think that way right now. The thought of someone telling us that we have to live in Oregon right now is too much. Nothing against Oregon, of course.



Oh, yeah, he is in surgery and in 2 more years, we go to a possible fellowship or deal with the AF.



Thanks for all of your wisdom, gals!!!

[DCJenn]

Claudia-



I don't know where you might find a list of all of the various hospitals but each Air Force base has medical care, and the services also combine at various bases. For example, the pediatrics program here is a combined Army/Air Force Program. Both services staff both hospitals and the Air Force Hospital is where all of the inpatient stuff is- NICU, PICU, etc.



That said, we've been hearing a lot about how the Army, Air Force and Navy are going to continue to combine services in the future. (I think this is definitely applicable the more specialized people become- i.e. I think a general pediatricin will probably stay within their service, but a pediatric nephrologist may be sent to where ever one is needed- no matter what service)



The Air Force has bases all over- San Diego, DC, North Dakota, Italy, Colorado, there are 3 here in San Antonio. You guys could end up just about anywhere!



I just paged my favorite Army man and asked him where to go to look- he asked what your husband's specialty is- (surgery- right?) and said that you'll definitely be at one of the Air Force Hospitals as opposed to a clinic setting, which means that it'll be one of the larger bases.



Jenn


Edited by: jloreine at: 2/8/02 1:26:30 pm

[DCJenn]

Claudia-



I'm trying to remember if Andrews has a hospital or not. I knowit has a medical center (Malcom Grow Medical Center) because I had a client whose father was somehow able to keep him covered under CHAMPUS even though he was an adult. So, we had to take him to the base for all medical care.



There are sooooo many military posts in the DC area that the services are spread out- each has it's own medical center but specialized services are usually done at the bigger hospitals- in this case Bethesda Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There are docs of all three medical services who work at both though.



If you want to go to DC, you have to remember that there are a LOT of people who request it. So, my recommendation is that he get to know the people in charge and go visit. Is there any way he can do some of the residency rotations there? (Probably not) I know that the way the services choose where you go and how much of a say you get varies. (we actually don't care where we go so it truly doesn't matter- my family is in DC, his is in CA- so we're flying to see someone, no matter what!)



Fellowship will also limit where you can go. There aren't that many places to go that do surgery fellowships. I have no idea where the Air Force has people do surgery fellowships. Maybe Sally or Jennifer do? And there are differences in the application process between the services, too.



He really needs to talk to someone to get the specifics!



Jenn



And you really can't get out of your obligation. and I'm pretty sure you guys couldn't afford it because you'd have to pay back all of the school stuff plus all of the salary...very ugly. There was a dentist who came out that he was gay after completing all of the training and the Air Force sued him- and they won. He has to pay back all of the money. Just relax and accept that in exchange for the money, you get to finish with a much lower debt load, free medical care and a chance to see and live in a different part of the world. If you constantly think about having to be close to your friends and family, you're going to be miserable. There are no guarantees in this exchange- other than it doesn't last forever!

My understanding of fellowships is limited to what I have heard from residency buddies of my husband's who went that route -- but based on that, here is what I know: your husband will have to get permission from the AF to do a fellowship (because of the delay it will cause in fulfilling his commitment). After he is approved to do a fellowship, he will need to decide if he wants to do a supported or an unsupported fellowship. Supported means that he is paid an air force salary (plus bonuses) during fellowship, but he will owe more time after fellowship because of that support. An unsupported fellowship will mean that he is not paid by the AF during the fellowship, but he will not add any more time to what he currently owes.



He surely has a contact person in the AF even though he is in a civilian program -- if he really wants to do a fellowship, he needs to get in contact with that person ASAP to make sure the plans he is making for fellowship are possible.

try this link (sorry it is so long) -- it will for sure let you know which AF hospitals have surgeons and you may be able to find out some other stuff that will be helpful.



afas.afpc.randolph.af.mil...20page.htm



Sally

Sally -



THANKS for that link! I am fascinated by all of that information! I think I looked at all of it a bit too long - b/c it's now later than I thought and I must get back to studying!



I'll have to ask him about an officer that he can talk to - it's sort of one of those things that we don't think about unless we have to. . .we know we will have to face it in a year or so. In your experience, has everyone received the assignments that they requested?

Funny you should ask that question.....



I think Jenn has already said this -- when it comes to assignments, the needs of the Air Force (or Army or whatever) are paramount, but they do try to make their people happy if they can.



The residents that got done a year before us (at Wilford Hall) all got their first or second choices. The residents that are getting done this year are likely to get their first or second choices. The residents that got done our year kind of got the shaft. Our first assignment was Mountain Home, ID, which we had ranked 15th or something. We were devastated. But then another AF OB/GYN had an assignment to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX and wanted to trade with us. So that is how we got here. I am not enjoying it here much, having lived in much larger cities for the past 8 years, but I am sure I like it better here than I would have in Idaho. (Our families are in Indiana and Kansas.)



The AF consultant that does the assignments for surgeons is the same one that does the assignments for OB/GYNs -- her name is Laura Garner and my husband always had a good impression of her. There is probably a surgery-type person that works with her on assignments, since she isn't a doctor -- at least I know that there was an OB/GYN that was also involved in making the assignments for us.



One other thing I have learned is that just because a base is listed as having a certain specialty (i.e. surgery) it doesn't mean it will have that specialty next year. Things are always changing and during our years in residency, they were downsizing rapidly. I don't know what effect the current situation will have on that tendency. So bookmark that site and try to stay informed!



I am glad to help....I remember being where you are and wondering where we might end up. I would have never dreamed we would end up living in TX for 8 years (by the time he is done -- so far it has been 4 1/2) but I loved living in San Antonio, and if it hadn't been for the Air Force, we probably wouldn't have left Indiana, and certainly wouldn't have ventured outside of the midwest. So if nothing else, the AF has forced us to expand our horizons, and for the most part, we are grateful!



Talk to you later.



Sally

[DCJenn]

Claudia-



Just to echo what Sally said...



last year some of the residents (on the AF side) got exactly what they wanted (one of the lucky residents was assigned the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs) and some got programs that they hadn't even considered. (Korea)



There were a few people that received civilian fellowships- mostly because the military didn't have a fellowship in their particular area of specialization.



This years residents are just finding out where they were going. There were quite a few who had requested the Chief Resident position- and one of them got it.



Like I said, they way we have to apply for fellowship differs greatly from the way the AF people have to apply for them. Definitely get as much information as possible and get to know as many people as you can.



Jenn