US Army Medical Personnel to Sharpen Critical Wartime Skills Alongside Westchester Medical Center Specialists

VALHALLA N.Y. – United States Army medical personnel will train alongside Westchester Medical Center physicians and nurses to maintain and enhance critical wartime medical skills.

Under a new partnership announced today by the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) and the United States Army, medical personnel assigned to Keller Army Community Hospital (KACH), located in West Point, N.Y., will train alongside anesthesia, plastic surgery, trauma and reconstruction specialists at Westchester Medical Center. In doing so, the U.S. Army medical personnel will gain valuable trauma and critical care experience that will help ensure operational readiness for military missions as well as general care at KACH.

Westchester Medical Center is an academic medical center that supplies acute care for the most complex trauma injuries and is home to the only burn care center in eastern New York State north of New York City. Keller Army Community Hospital serves the West Point Health Service Area, which includes the United States Military Academy, West Point staff and families, and military beneficiaries. KACH supplies a range of healthcare services, while also supplying trained clinicians for U.S. Army assignments – domestic and foreign.

The agreement is the latest in a series of collaborations between Westchester Medical Center and the U.S. Army for medical training and care for military personnel.

“Our physicians and nurses are thrilled to have yet another opportunity to work alongside U.S. Army medical specialists and provide training for their important work as physicians and nurses serving military personnel,” said Renee Garrick, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, WMCHealth. “The training will have reciprocal benefits for us at Westchester Medical Center as U.S. Army medical personnel will be able to share innovations in combat casualty care, which will be tremendously useful to the communities we serve as a Level I trauma center.”

“This partnership provides exponential learning opportunities for our medical personnel and strengthens the relationship we already maintain with WMCHealth,” said Col. Neil McMullin, Deputy Commander for Clinical Services at Keller Army Community Hospital. “We will be learning from some of the best physicians in the country, which will allow us to maintain the high-quality, world-class healthcare we provide to the West Point Health Service Area beneficiaries, and will allow our medical personnel to be ready to deploy in defense of our nation, relevant, and responsive to the medical needs of our military service members.”

About Westchester Medical Center Health Network
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with nine hospitals on eight campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 13,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. The Network has Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 trauma centers, the region’s only acute care children’s hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, Comprehensive and Primary Stroke Centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities, home-care services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State. Today, WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated health care in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit WMCHealth.orgor follow WMCHealth on Facebook.com/WMCHealthor Instagram.com/WMCHealth.