59th Medical Wing

The 59th Medical Wing (MDW) is the U.S. Air Force's largest medical wing and is the Air Force functional medical command for Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA). It's composed of seven medical groups across San Antonio. Three are located at the Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center (WHASC); the 959th Medical Group is located at San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC), JBSA-Fort Sam Houston; the 59th Training Group - the wing's newest group, activated on 4 January 2016, is also located at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston. The 359th and 559th Medical Groups are located at and support the missions of JBSA-Randolph and JBSA-Lackland, respectively.

The 59th MDW operates with a $271 million budget, and a staff of 8,000 military, civilian, and contract personnel. The 59th MDW is home to the Critical Care Air Transport Team Pilot Unit (CCATT), which has executive management over 118 active-duty, Guard and Reserve teams. The wing also has the Defense Department's largest Blood Donor Center, a Warfighter Refractive Surgery Center, and Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) capability. The ECLS offers the only global transport option in the world, providing partial heart-lung bypass to eligible adults, infants, and children suffering from severe cardiopulmonary failure. The medical wing also has the largest dental facility in the DOD and the only dental group in the Air Force. The 59th Dental Group examines approximately 36,000 basic military trainees and 28,000 technical training students a year. It has the only stereolithography and modeling lab in the Air Force, which produces dimensionally-accurate medical models and craniofacial prostheses. This capability provides rehabilitative support to patients with acquired or congenital defects of the head and neck region.

The 59th MDW provides medical care at various facilities in San Antonio. Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center is the Air Force's largest outpatient facility, providing a full range of primary care, specialty care, and outpatient surgery. At SAMMC, the DOD's largest inpatient medical facility, nearly 2,000 59th MDW personnel work with Army medics in areas such as the bone marrow transplant center, the burn unit, and other rare and complex treatment environments. The wing's highly specialized trauma surgeons, along with their Army counterparts, staff the Defense Department's only Joint Level 1 Trauma Center in the United States.

Most of the wing's military personnel are assigned to one of several teams, which act as building blocks to form Expeditionary Medical Support hospitals and a number of specialized units, to include Critical Care Air Transport Teams. The wing has the largest medical mobility commitment in the U.S. Air Force and maintains approximately 2,950 mobility positions. At any one time, there are about 200 medics deployed worldwide, executing a joint U.S. mission in support of global operations. Additionally, the 59th Medical Wing oversees deployments for all Air Force medical assets assigned within JBSA. Outreach teams are regularly dispatched all over the globe to respond to emergencies, assist in Department of Defense contingency missions, and reinforce readiness training through real-world civil and humanitarian assistance missions.

The wing's postgraduate medical education function is merged with that of Brooke Army Medical Center under the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC). The two facilities, in close cooperation with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), provide a wide array of training programs ranging from general surgery to emergency medical services administration. At any given time, SAUSHEC has roughly 600 residents enrolled in 37 graduate medical education (GME) programs, of which 60 percent are Air Force. There are an additional 22 programs for our Allied Health members, including: Psychology Internship; Health Psychology Fellow; Dietetic; Pharmacy Clinical; Pastoral Education; General Surgery Physician Assistant (PA); Emergency Medicine PA; Otolaryngology PA and Audiology.

The wing's training group supports military medical service and medical readiness training at the Medical Education and Training Campus on JBSA-Fort Sam Houston for 12,100 students annually, and at two operating locations, one detachment and 17 sites around the world. The 59th Training Group's partnership with METC affords training for the five uniformed services and international students. The group awards 24 Air Force specialty codes and 93,037 Community College of the Air Force credit hours annually while maintaining 14 national accreditations.

In addition to the GME program, the 59th MDW is the largest of 15 clinical training sites in the Air Force, graduating an average of 500 officer and enlisted students in various dental and allied health programs each year. Additional training includes the Sustainment Training to Advance Readiness Skills (STARS) program, refresher trauma training and courses for specialized surgical and critical care teams. The 59th MDW has the largest DOD dental education mission, providing 85 percent of the Air Force's total dental training capacity.

As members of a strong inter-service team, the 59th Medical Wing is also dedicated to building partnerships with community organizations such as the Veterans Affairs Audie Murphy Hospital, University of Texas Health Science Center, Humana Military Healthcare Services, University Health System, and the Mayor's Fitness Council.