World War I soldiers recuperating at Walter Reed Hospital in August 1918.
Posted on 06/27/2005 8:08:45 PM PDT by neverdem
Since it opened its doors on May 1, 1909, Walter Reed Hospital in Washington has been a healing destination for hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, several presidents and luminaries like Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, Gen. George C. Marshall, King Hussein of Jordan and the exiled shah of Iran. But last month, Walter Reed became a casualty of the Pentagon's plan to shut, reduce or reorganize military facilities in all 50 states.
If Congress accepts the recommendation to close the medical center, most of its 113-acre campus will be razed. Some have suggested preserving the complex's most historic buildings for a national health museum. Local officials hope the land will be deeded to the city for development.
To replace what is demolished, the Defense Department proposes building a 300-bed hospital, combining the Army and Navy medical corps, on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The new facility is to be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Outpatient clinics and some other services would be moved to Virginia.
For many, the loss will provoke feelings of nostalgia. Over the last 96 years, countless stories of crisis, caring, triumph and grief have unfolded on its wards.
The closing of Walter Reed, said Dr. John Pierce, a retired Army colonel who practiced there for 15 years and is now medical inspector for the Veterans Health Administration, would mean "the loss of a cherished Army institution and culture of service that is poorly understood by most civilians."
The hospital's namesake, a physician and an Army major, led the 1900 investigation that determined the critical role that mosquitoes play in the transmission of yellow fever, a deadly scourge that flourished, especially in warmer climates, during the 19th century.
Based on these findings, Reed prescribed aggressive quarantine and mosquito...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
World War I soldiers recuperating at Walter Reed Hospital in August 1918.
That's a shame.
There is sooo much history with that hospital.
Great old photo, neverdem. Always nice to see unposed shots from long ago.
Now they're planning on tearing it down and building an entirely new facility from scratch. Ah, the march of progress!
Guess the Congressmen and Senators need somewhere to go after they destroy the rest of the hospitals in the country.
No waiting for them!
Much less historic by age, Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB in San Antonio is also on the chopping block.
Very sketchy plans seem to be to keep an outpatient clinic complex at Lackland, but move inpatient services to Brooks Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. Unknown are how such outpatient services as oncology/chemotheraphy, Opthamology, etc. will be handled.
San Antonio, like the D.C. area, has a huge military retiree population. Will be interesting to see how Brooks handles the additional load without shortchanging the retirees.
I guess it will take awhile, but I will hate to see it go...
They need to sell it off to pay the pensions of workers in the federal agencies.
Are you serious?
At the Navel hosp. which is across the street from NIH.
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