Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Walter Reed- The End of an Era

We have a connection to Walter Reed, and today it officially "closed." Since I love history, it kinda makes me sad, but I'm glad to know things will be better for everyone at the new place. The following excerpt is from the Washington Post:

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army’s flagship hospital where privates to presidents have gone for care, lowered its unit flags today, readying for an actual closing in September after more than a century. Army parachutists landed with pinpoint accuracy on the front lawn of the storied medical center, minutes after a formal ceremony in which Army Maj. Gen. Carla G. Hawley-Rowland, head of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, handed over Walter Reed’s saber to Navy Rear Adm. Matthew Nathan, who will be the first commander of the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda. “This BRAC [Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission] has been painfully difficult at times, but it’s given us a chance to shape the future of military medicine,” Hawley-Rowland said. Hundreds of thousands of the nation’s war wounded, from World War I to today, have received treatment at Walter Reed, including 18,000 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Dwight D. Eisenhower died there. So did Gens. John J. Pershing and Douglas MacArthur.It’s where countless celebrities, from Bob Hope to quarterback Tom Brady, have stopped by to show their respect to the wounded. Through the use of medical diplomacy, the center also has tended to foreign leaders.Former and current patients and staff members said good-bye at the ceremony on the parade grounds in front of the main concrete and glass hospital complex. Most of the moving will occur in August, with a deadline for moving all patients by Aug. 31. On Sept. 15, the Army hands over the campus to the new tenants: the State Department and the District of Columbia.

We took a ride to Bethesda - the new place- this past weekend to see the new hospital. One of our family members is Chief of one of the surgical services at Walter Reed, and now he has to "start all over" ... something we all seem to be doing lately. But we know he will do just fine, as he always does. It's just the transition, uncertainty, and anticipation that saps out the energy. Consolidation is one thing I used to recommend in the health care business. It's different when you recommend compared to having it recommended to you.
A gated community- like most military installations

A lot of construction trailers surround the tower

The largest state of the art military facility in the country? Across from NIH

A college for Uniformed Services Health Education
A smoothie treat on the way home along Wisconsin Avenue

No comments:

Post a Comment