Kleber clinic – not just a ‘Soldier clinic’

Dr. Evan Steil
Kaiserslautern Health Clinic medical director


***image1***There exists a misconception among many servicemembers and their dependents that the Kaiserslautern Health Clinic on Kleber Kaserne serves only Soldiers. In reality, we do much more. People think we are just a “Soldier” clinic, but we are a fully-functioning and fully-staffed family practice clinic that serves Army families and retirees, and civilian contractors who are enrolled through the clinic.

One of the main reasons we have the reputation as a “Soldier” clinic is because we in-process every Soldier who comes into the KMC on arrival. Our clinic is also responsible for medically processing Soldiers preparing to deploy as well as reintegrating those returning from a deployment for the entire KMC.

In fact, our Soldier Medical Readiness Center is a model of efficiency. To help meet individual medical readiness requirements, we make certain that all Soldiers in the KMC are up to date on their immunizations, blood work, HIV tests and dental work. Half of our clinic is comprised of dental facilities. We have walk-in appointments for this service, so access is easy. All the information we collect gets downloaded into the system, which is the source of Army Knowledge Online individual data.

However, we do have a dual mission – to keep every Soldier 100 percent ready to deploy as well as to serve the health care needs of servicemembers and their dependents. The Kleber Health Clinic has three full-time providers as well as a part-time physical therapist. We have a minimum complexity laboratory and radiology services available, as well as a pharmacy for new and refill prescriptions. The clinic also offers wellness visits, work and school physicals, and minor surgeries.

Our clinic falls under the umbrella of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. We serve about 2,500 TRICARE members, which is a significant number. We do, however, have a much lighter total patient volume than LRMC, so frequently our clinic can provide a patient with quicker appointment times. We try to adhere to an open access model and offer same-day appointments (within 24 hours) as often as possible. This includes all appointments for active-duty sick call, routine visits, urgent illnesses and health maintenance for all our eligible beneficiaries.

As a full-service family practice clinic, we try to accommodate our patients in a family-centered environment, so bringing your entire family is not a problem here.