A Small Company Takes On A Big Challenge

Aliron International completes construction and staffing of a pair of U.S. Army health care clinics in two months time

FT. HOOD, TEXAS - In September 1995, the Department of Defense (DoD) closed two health care clinics near Ft. Hood, Texas, the world's largest military post located 60 miles north of Austin, due to the poor quality of the services being provided by the private company contracted to operate the facilities. The clinics, located in Killeen and Copperas Cove, provided care for 100,000 people - the families of the soldiers stationed at Ft. Hood and Army retirees living in the Ft. Hood area.

To address the problem of shutting down the clinics and leaving this large military community without health care, the DoD turned to a small, woman-owned, Washington, DC-based company, Aliron International which had earned high marks for servicing other government contracts.

"The DoD asked us to open two new clinics in the same locations, with the provision that the Army would eventually take them over," says Aliron President Cora Alisuag. The DoD wanted both clinics up and running by January, a project completion window of less than four months. "It seemed overwhelming at the time," she adds.

Aliron accepted the challenge and hired retired Army Command Sergeant Major Ric Rodriguez to oversee the projects. Rodriguez had several years of experience managing family health clinics for the military and quickly helped Aliron hire architects and contractors to design and build the new facilities and to bring in biochemical experts to calibrate the equipment that was left at the two former clinics.

While construction continued, Aliron tackled the task of staffing the two facilities. Competing with three area hospitals for recruiting of the area's medical professionals, Aliron hired 100 health care personnel by the end of December.

By project's completion, Aliron had overcome all of the obstacles and on January 1, 1996, the new clinics in Killeen and Copperas Cove officially opened. Just over a year later, after successfully operating the facilities to the Army's satisfaction, Aliron turned the clinics over to the military. Since then, Aliron has been awarded government contracts to open health care clinics in New Hampshire and Michigan. "We've shown that hard work does pay off," says Alisuag.