Landstuhl Regional Medical Center hosted leaders and clinicians from Knappschaft Kliniken Saar on Aug. 19. to strengthen medical coordination between the U.S. military’s premier overseas trauma center and one of Germany’s leading healthcare networks.
The visit went beyond a traditional facility tour, providing an opportunity for medical professionals from both organizations to discuss collaboration, patient care and preparations for large-scale combat operations and disaster medicine.
“Our German colleagues are incredibly eager to collaborate and partner with us in every way possible,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Mary Stuever, LRMC’s trauma medical director. “They specifically brought up healthcare team exchanges and new pathways for joint patient care. Right now, they are laser-focused on preparing for large-scale combat operations and disaster medicine demands.”
Knappschaft Kliniken is a major German health care network that treats roughly one million patients annually across 12 acute care hospitals and multiple rehabilitation clinics. Its network in western Germany serves as an important partner in crisis preparedness, mass-casualty resilience, and disaster medicine.
Stuever said a strong partnerships with host-nation hospitals are essential to supporting military families stationed overseas.
“Strong partnerships with host nation hospitals create asafety net of specialized local carethat ensures service members and their families are never left stranded in a medical crisis,” Stuever said.
At their core, both LRMC and Knappschaft Kliniken share a common goal: providing quality care that helps patients recover and return to their normal lives.
During the visit, doctors, nurses, and administrators toured the facility together, exchanging experiences and comparing clinical approaches.
For military families, navigating a foreign healthcare system can sometimes be challenging. A key focus of the visit was identifying ways to reduce those barriers and improve coordination between the two health care systems.
The Knappschaft Kliniken medical team learned how LRMC prepares patients who are referred off-post for specialized care. By improving communication and coordination, the organizations aim to ensure patients feel supported and informed throughout their care, regardless of which facility provides treatment.
The face-to-face engagement also provided an opportunity for medical professionals to build genuine human connections that can facilitate coordination during complex medical situations.
By learning more about each other's hospital operations, both teams strengthened their understanding of how they can work together to support patients and military readiness.
“LRMC continues to build relationships with our German partners,” Stuever said. “Support from Defense Health Agency legal is required for enduring partnerships to ensure that, if there is a true large-scale military operations situation, we need to build these partnerships now and not react to a major event.”
The engagement reflects LRMC’s continued effort to strengthen relationships with host-nation medical partners and build a resilient network capable of supporting service members, their families and patients both during routine and crisis operations.