Medical and Dental care are always a high concern for those of us with children. Rest assured, adequate services are available in The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium if you are assigned to this area. But, like anything else, you have to become familiar with the options and procedures before you need to use those services.
US Medical and Dental care is located at NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen (Germany). Medical care is provided by the 470th Medical Flight Clinic. IMPORTANT - This is a medical clinic only; not a full fledged medical facility. They do not conduct Sick Call, they do not take Walk Ins, and they cannot handle Emergencies (there is no ER). Below is a copy of the information provided by the USAG Schinnen website:
US Medical and Dental Facilities, GK
Twenty minutes from USAG Schinnen at Geilenkirchen NATO AB, Germany, is the 470th Medical Flight Clinic, which offers health care to the military population within the Tri-border community. The “GK Clinic” Medical Staff’s first and foremost objective is keeping its active duty personnel “fit to fight” by ensuring members meet unit and branch medical readiness standards and by addressing healthcare needs to keep active duty personnel mission-ready. The GK Clinic also strives to provide quality, timely, and accessible health care to all its active duty members and their families, and retiree and retiree beneficiaries.
Clinic hours are Monday thur Friday 0730-1600. Please note: On the first Thursday of every month all sections will close for training between 1300-1700. (limited services during lunch 1200-1300). *Note: There is no Sick Call, and the clinic does not do walk-in appointments. You must schedule an appointment to be seen. You can register to book medical appointments online by visiting http://www.tricareonline.com/, or you can call the appointment line at +49(0)2451-99-3200.
TRICARE
TRICARE is the Department of Defense (DoD) health care program for active duty and retired members of the uniformed services, their families, and survivors. The Geilenkirchen TRICARE Service Center offers a variety of resources, including TRICARE enrollments/disenrollments, civilian and military medical referral coordination, medical bill processing, Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) assistance, overseas clearances, and TRICARE benefits counseling. For more information, please call the TRICARE Service Center at +49(0)2451-99-3400, or visit the website at http://www.europe.tricare.osd.mil/.
Dental Clinic
Medical Emergencies
Find out which medical emergency facility is closest to your home or location. Make sure the family knows this is the facility of choice. Determine the shortest route from the home to that facility. If new to the area, make a trial run to the facility.
Keep emergency phone numbers posted near the phone where children and adults can easily find them. Below is a list of local civilian hospitals. The 470th Medical Flight does not imply that the quality of care of any civilian hospital is better than the other.
- ■St. Elisabeth Krankenhaus, Martin-Heyden Strasse 32, Geilenkirchen, GE, +49(0)2451-6220
- Note: Pediatric patients will be stabilized and transferred to other facilities for inpatient or pediatric specialty care. OB/Gyn services are not available at this facility.
- ■Städtishes Krankenhaus, Auf dem Brand 1, Heinsberg, GE, +49(0)2452-1880
- Note: Pediatric patients will be stabilized and transferred to other facilities for inpatient or pediatric specialty care
- ■Atrium Medisch Centrum, Henri Dunantstraat, Heerlen, NL, +31(0)45-576-6666
- ■Orbis Medisch Centrum, Dr. H. van der Hoffplein 1, Sittard-Geleen, NL, +31(0)46-459-7777
*Note: This is a new facility, and the address might not show on older GPSs. Please follow direction to the Foroxity Movie Theater—the hospital is across the highway.
Family members must inform the TRICARE Service Center prior to obtaining any care from a civilian provider than is not urgent or an emergency. If visiting an emergency room after duty hours, notify TRICARE the next duty day to ensure medical care continuity and avoid out-of-pocket expenses.
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The 470th Medical Flight is not equipped to handle emergencies. For all medical emergencies, immediately go to the nearest civilian emergency room, or call 112 for an ambulance. The GK Dental Clinic’s primary mission is to active duty members, meeting their dental health needs and fulfilling unit dental health readiness requirements. Complete dental care is available for active duty members. Services for active duty family members are limited to annual exams and cleanings. (To schedule, call the first duty day of the sponsor’s birth month.) All other dental services for family members are on a space-available basis. Active duty sponsors should consider enrolling their family members in the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) to accommodate for all other dental issues, especially emergency dental care. Please visit http://www.tricaredentalprogram.com/ for more information, or call the Dental Clinic at +49(0)2451-99-3535.It says that the GK clinic is 20 minutes from Schinnen but I think you would be hard pressed on most days to get there in less than 30 minutes if the back gate is open and 45 minutes if you have to go around to the main entrance. make sure you have somebody show you how to drive both routes. GK will close the back gate with no notice and if you drove there and it is closed, well just add another 15-20 minutes to your drive time.
I have used the clinic on two different tours to The Netherlands and I have always been satisfied with their professionalism. Years ago, if you needed services beyond what they can offer you would be referred to the Medical Clinic at Bitburg, Germany. But that has closed. Now, you will be referred to a Dutch or German health care provider in the immediate area. This is not always a timely process; both Germans and Dutch schedule things far in advance so they are usually booked solid in the near term. I was referred to the German hospital in Geilenkirchen (St. Elizabeth) and had no problems. The doctors will all speak pretty good English but the rest of the staff in St. Elizabeth's did not. Luckily I also speak passable German so I managed but if you don't speak Dutch or German, and you have to go to one of their hospitals, you might want to take someone with you that can speak the language. Otherwise, just be patient with them and they will do the best that they can to find someone to talk to you.
The Tricare office at GK is top notch. They are knowledgeable and very helpful. But they have no information about CONUS Tricare services. Apparently it is two completely separate programs and contracts. You will have to call the states if you have a CONUS Tricare question. Be aware, that if you are referred off post for medicine or care that you will most likely have to pay upfront and then seek reimbursement through a Tricare claim. I had one Tricare claim for twenty-some Euros and submitted the paperwork but I have never been paid. I live too far away to keep driving back to GK to try and get my money, I would burn up more in gas then what I am owed so i have let it drop. So keep copies of receipts and write down everything so you have a log of your actions and maybe you'll have more success than I have had.
The Dental clinic is as good as any military dental clinic I have ever been to in the past 34 years. I am very satisfied with them. I had a crown installed on a molar this year and it was done very well. The dental clinic does not do Orthodontics though. For braces and such you'll have to go on the economy but they will do the pre-screening for braces.
For more information just Google "470th Medical Flight" and you'll get plenty of references.
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