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Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Dougherty ends 27-year career

  • Published
  • By Steve Pivnick
  • 81st Medical Group Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  The driving force behind Keesler Medical Center's dramatic recovery from the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina retired from the Air Force June 8.

Brig. Gen. (Dr.) James Dougherty, 81st Medical Group commander, was honored during a formal retirement ceremony in front of Keesler Medical Center after 27 years of service. Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Charles Green, Air Force deputy surgeon general, officiated. General Dougherty will be succeeded by Col. (Dr.) Douglas Robb, a brigadier general-select, who is currently United States Central Command command surgeon at MacDill AFB, Fla.

As commander, the general has been responsible for the direct delivery of health care by the largest medical group in the Air Force to more than 47,000 patients in the Keesler area and coordinated care for almost 76,000 beneficiaries along the Gulf Coast. He ensured the availability of major war and peacetime medical readiness response forces and has led more than 1,600 health-care professionals and managed a local budget of more than $69 million. In addition, General Dougherty has been the federal coordinator for the Gulf Coast National Disaster Medical System.

The general wore a third hat, serving as the senior market manager for Tricare's Gulf Coast Multi-Service Market, which includes six military medical facilities stretching from Mobile, Ala., to New Orleans.

General Dougherty took command of the medical group and medical center in June 2005, a little more than two months before Katrina pounded the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The storm's surge flooded the medical center basement, knocking out the power infrastructure and destroying millions of dollars-worth of high-tech medical equipment, closing the facility.

Although the medical center was closed, the general and his staff ensured primary medical care was available to those still on base immediately after the storm. They established a first aid station, initially in field-hospital tents, then in an undamaged satellite building near the hospital.

Working closely with 81st Training Wing, Air Education and Training Command, Air Staff officials and the Mississippi congressional delegation, the general and 81st MDG staff developed plans and obtained funding - more than $ $143 million - to renovate the basement and areas of the upper floors as well as purchase the high-value equipment necessary to return Keesler Medical Center to its pre-Katrina operations,.

Increasing levels of medical care continue to return and the four medical residency programs in place before Katrina will see a new class of Air Force doctors arrive in July.

In addition to essentially rebuilding a medical center - a first for the Air Force - General Dougherty was instrumental in developing a landmark agreement between the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Air Force Medical Service signed in June 2006 to maintain medical residency programs at the Keesler Medical Center.

Under terms of the agreement, the School of Medicine at UMC will maintain the institutional accreditation for Mississippi Gulf Coast medical training, to include all four residency programs at Keesler - general surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology - that were relocated after Hurricane Katrina. The Air Force will supply the faculty and residents for the program...the resources needed by the state to produce more doctors for Mississippi as university students begin to train at Keesler.

Commenting on his tenure as commander, General Dougherty said, "The period since Katrina has been a difficult one for our patients, but also the staff, who worked long hours to sustain medical care while dealing with their own losses. But, from that tragedy, an opportunity was born to build the medical center from the ground up, bringing back the best in technology and knowledge for the people under our care."

The general entered the Air Force in June 1980, serving as a flight surgeon with the 4th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Over his career, General Dougherty has held a variety of staff and command positions. Prior to his current assignment, he was command surgeon and director of medical services and training for the Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

In retirement, General and Mrs. Dougherty will return to their roots, settling in Texas among family and longtime friends.