Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Our connection to Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins started a long time ago. Our son and daughter in law both attended and graduated from Johns Hopkins. He went to the a University of Wisconsin Madison medical school, then completed his residency at the old Walter Reed, then went on to finish a cardiac surgery fellowship at Harvard/Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Before his first deployment, our grandson was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital. We moved to DC two years later. We visited the old Walter Reed to see our son’s office and the hospital, and also brought out of town guests there to visit the army museum filled with interesting medical artifacts and oddities. Eventually the old Walter Reed merged with the Naval Hospital to become the state of the art military medical center. Before our family moved to Virginia from DC a few years ago our son drove from Capitol Hill to Bethesda every day for work as a cardiac surgeon until he retired as a colonel after twenty one years in the army and three deployments. All the news lately reminds us of the places that are all too familiar to us. You could consider it a six degrees of separation scenario. We haven’t driven by the place since 2019 and when we do I always send a photo to them as a reminder. How time flies. 

President Barack Obama M&M's at Walter Reed

Our grandson stops by occasionally to share a story, and most recently, to show us his Halloween Sheriff outfit. Last night he dropped off a small box of M and M's. He simply said his Dad brought them home from work. It seemed odd that his father would bother with such a thing. We thanked him for stopping by and I looked at the box a little more carefully. On one side was an M and M holding a flag and on the other side was the Presidential seal. There were stars across the top and bottom and then I noticed a familiar signature beneath the seal. This prompted me to ask our daughter in law what the real story was behind this unusual M and M box. She said the President stopped by Walter Reed that afternoon and visited the ward where our son works, and that he has known about the plan for awhile. He can keep these kinds of secrets all the time. We probably would not have known or heard anything about it unless the M and M's showed up. Just another day in the life of a cardiac surgeon at Walter Reed, with an interesting way to let us know how his day went via messenger service. 

  

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