Our History
As a result of the Base Realignment and Closure recommendations released May 13, 2005, the decision was made to close DeWitt Army Community Hospital and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (FBCH) is part of the recommendation which required realigning staff and resources from DeWitt and Walter Reed to modern health care facilities at the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda — formerly National Naval Medical Center Bethesda — and here at Fort Belvoir by Sept. 15, 2011. The recommendations became law Nov. 9, 2005.
In November 2007, hospital leaders joined with Department of Defense and Fort Belvoir Garrison leaders, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local community leaders and design and construction contract partners to break ground for a new, state-of-the-art facility on the site of Fort Belvoir’s South Post Golf Course.
On Aug. 31, 2011, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital began serving patients with the arrival of a patient transferred from DeWitt Army Community Hospital. The new hospital is more than 1.2 million square feet, and includes 120 state-of-the-art inpatient rooms. It consists of four ambulatory clinical centers, a seven-story inpatient tower, Central Utilities Plant and two parking garages. Using the latest developments in Evidence-Based Design, the facility features single patient rooms, an Intensive Care Unit and state-of-the-art operating rooms, cancer care center, a center for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, and a full range of primary care, medical and surgical subspecialties.
Patients, staff and special guests celebrated the opening of the new hospital on Oct. 28, 2011.
On May 16th, at 2:00 p.m., the Defense Health Agency (DHA) conducted a renaming and dedication ceremony of Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. The community hospital now bears the name of Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center (ATAMMC) to honor Lt. Col. (Dr.) Alexander Thomas Augusta, the highest-ranking black officer in the Union Army, the first black professor of medicine at Howard University in Washington D.C. and the first black officer to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
ATAMMC is part of the National Capital Region Network, a Defense Health Agency joint-service medical command based in Bethesda, MD.