During his two year stint at Fort Drum, Col Jerome Penner III left the military installation better than he found it.

Under his command medical buildings were renovated, a Warrior Transition Unit complex was constructed and a community-based clinic was opened.

His job was completed and he was ready to retire.  Then he received an offer he could not refuse.  He was asked to be the commander of Madigan Army Medical Center.  He accepted the post and brought with him a new set of values - people first, deployment medicine, quality care, and customer service.

"When I came to Madigan I wanted to change the focus from patient's first to staff first," Penner said. "I believe that if you take care of the staff, they will do a better job for you."

Upon his arrival at Madigan, Penner put these values to the test.  He walked the halls, met soldiers and listened to his staff.  Six months later, he has a wish list of improvements for the facility - which has 1215 military and 4339 civilian staff members - that includes additions and changes that he hopes to set into motion before his retirement in about 18 months. Already he is seeing positive change.

For starters, Madigan was rated as the number one FORSCOM (U.S. Army Forces Command) hospital in customer service.

"In January we were rated number one with 92.7 percent customer satisfaction. We're hovering around 90 to 91 percent now, but we are still number one."

However, improved customer service is but one of many changes underway at Madigan.  On a recent morning Penner shared his hopes for the medical center which is the third largest Army hospital.

First, two off-based clinics are in the works.  At least one of the clinics will be opened by the end of the year, he said.

"The driving force behind opening these clinics is to improve access to health care. We want to give people a clinic with radiology and a pharmacy on site.  We don't want them to have to get treated at one place and x-rays at another."

Also plans are in the works to open a $196 million, three-story Maternal Infants Pavilion (MIP) between the Nursing Tower, Jackson Avenue and the south parking lot.  The 159,000 square feet structure will be connected to the current Nursing Tower and will include 30 individual patient rooms for mothers, 2 operating rooms, and a neonatal intensive care unit.

Additionally, the MIP will include a two-level subterranean parking garage that will add 486 new parking spaces.  The building will be recommended as a priority project for construction in 2012, with a projected completion date of 2015.

"We want to make visits to the doctor more convenient for our pregnant mothers," Penner added. "We don't want them walking through in the rain to get to treatment. We want to provide them with care in a centralized location."

Another project - a $110 million Warrior in Transition Battalion complex - will break ground in May.  The WTB complex will be located adjacent to MAMC and will include a 67,100 square feet headquarters building and a 245,820 square feet barracks building.  The barracks will include 408 barracks rooms, 44 ADA compliant rooms, combined kitchenettes, customer service sections on the first floor, two outdoor sports courts, one basketball/tennis court, and one sand volleyball court, two covered picnic areas and 5-8 family BBQ areas.

Improvements are underway in the pharmacy (see story on page 10) and are in the planning stages for the emergency room, Penner said.  A committee comprised of emergency room staff is working on plans for amenities that will best meet the needs of the patients.

"I think that the people who work in the emergency room are best equipped to decide what will work best," included Penner. "But the idea is to make things more warm and fuzzy.  If you have to wait, then we want you to be comfortable. We want the ER to be more user-friendly."

Penner used strollers and wheelchairs as examples. Currently, there is no specific place to put strollers or wheelchairs.

"People are pushed into the ER in wheelchairs and there is no place to park them. We want to create parking places for them."

Also they are creating a place for children to play.

When mothers come into the hospital with their children and they have to sit and wait in the ER or in the pharmacy, their children don't like it.

"The kids don't want to wait 25 or 30 minutes, so they have a meltdown. I came to the hospital with a toothache and now I have headache."

Additionally, the ER and the pharmacy waiting rooms will be more family-oriented.

"Families are under more stress with mom or dad deployed. We want to make their visit to Madigan as stress-free and painless as possible."

Another goal for Madigan is Magnet certification for nurses, he said. Magnet status is an award given by the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC), an affiliate of the American Nurses Association, to hospitals that satisfy a set of criteria designed to measure the strength and quality of their nursing care.

"I would love to see us reach the Magnet Certification," he said. "Our patients deserve great quality of care.  I don't know if we will get the certification or not, but the journey in attempting it, will motivate our nurses to become better at what they do."

Also he plans to apply for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, he said.  Given by the President of the United States, this award is based on excellence in seven areas, such as leadership, strategic planning and customer focus.

However, beyond the accolades, improvements and changes, Penner says he hopes to leave a positive mark on Madigan and is always looking for things to change and improve upon.

"I am perpetually not happy," Penner said. "I have real high expectations of myself.  I want to leave Madigan knowing that I made a positive impact."