The new Irwin Army Community Hospital has begun providing services.

Among the two-wing, five-story building features is a  new unit–Inpatient Behavioral Health and Psychiatric Care unit. The unit has an outdoor patio available to patients surrounded by a garden of flowers and foliage and allows beneficiaries to receive care without traveling away from Fort Riley.

Facing the outpatient clinics is the atrium. The atrium is a glass wall that lets in natural light, provides a view of the gardens outside and provides passive solar heat in cooler months.

The atrium, gardens, and all of the rooms having a view of the outdoors are all a part of the healing process, said Jorge Gomez, IACH public affairs officer.

The ribbon cutting for the new hospital was conducted last Thursday.