Oklahoma Guard opens wellness center to strengthen readiness Article

OKLAHOMA CITY – A hand-drawn sketch on scrap paper has become a nearly 35,000-square-foot wellness center dedicated to supporting the mental, physical and spiritual health of Oklahoma National Guard service members and their families.

“This is a big incident for us,” said Brig. Gen. Brad Carter, Assistant Adjutant General, Oklahoma Army National Guard and presiding officer of the ceremony. “In the years I’ve worn this uniform, I can’t tell you how excited I am about the facility we’ve established. Thank you to everyone who put this together, especially our congressional delegation and our state legislature, who have been so supportive of the Oklahoma Guard.”

The state-of-the-art facility, built by Flintco and designed by Larson Design Group, represents a major step forward in OKNG’s commitment to the overall health and well-being of its service members. The center is the first of its kind for the organization, not only in its function but also in its design, which is working with Wordercity to achieve “Gold” certification under the WELL Building Standard.

The facility’s WELL design focuses on enhancing human health and well-being through the building environment, including features that address air, water, nutrition, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mindfulness, and community.

The idea for this facility was born from a conversation between Major General Thomas H. Mancino, the Adjutant General of Oklahoma, and Lieutenant Colonel Montana Dugger, Deputy of OKNG’s Office of Construction and Facility Maintenance. A simple sketch drawn by hand on scrap paper laid the foundation for a facility that would bring all of OKNG’s mental and physical health resources under one roof.

“My staff and I came up with this (plan) with pencil and paper, a ruler and a dream,” Dugger said. “If you’ve ever been in engineering or construction more than a day, you know that sometimes things can take five, seven, 10 years to get done, so I had no idea two to three years ago that I would be standing in front of this building that was already finished.”

Facilities within the wellness center include a fully equipped workout space for resistance and agility training, indoor and outdoor meditation spaces, a chapel, conference rooms, classroom space, and a teaching kitchen.

The facility also houses OKNG programs and services, including behavioral health, chaplaincy, equal employment opportunity, family programs, holistic health and fitness (H2F), integrated primary prevention, resiliency, suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention and risk reduction, and sexual assault prevention and response.

“With the availability of chapels, classrooms and in-person office spaces, we have the opportunity to access many more resources for our service members and their families,” said Colonel Lindy White, joint resiliency director for the Oklahoma National Guard. “All of these services will eventually find a home.”

After hearing the story of how the idea came about and learning the positive impact such a facility can have – and it all started on a piece of paper – White asked that the sketch be framed and displayed in the new facility for years to come.

“I’m going to take a line from Colonel White,” Dugger said during the ceremony. ‘Sometimes innovation can start with just a sketchpad and a pen,’ he said.

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