Posted on 09/02/2011 12:26:04 PM PDT by Drango
September 2, 2011
There's a lot of good sense behind closing two famous and nearby military hospitals and merging them into the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. But just looking at the name reveals both what's good about this merger and what makes it so tricky.
Walter Reed was a famous Army doctor, and for more than a century his name was on the Army's iconic hospital in Washington, D.C. Now that hospital is shutting its doors, and Reed's name will go onto the new hospital built on the Navy's flagship medical campus in Bethesda, Md., 6 miles away.
It's a bit like merging the Yankees and the Red Sox and then making them play in "Derek Jeter Fenway Park." Yankees fans and Red Sox Nation would never go for it — but it might make a great baseball team.
That's the sort of potential behind the new, jointly operated Army and Navy hospital. With bright new buildings and the latest technology, the new hospital promises better care to service members, veterans and injured troops from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But the Army and Navy each have their own proud traditions. So bridging those separate, and often competing, cultures will be the key to truly offering better medical care.
A 'World-Class Standard' Of Care?
The possibilities of the merger are clear when Cmdr. Blair Miles gives a tour of one of the spacious new operating suits. The scanners and computers are attached to long booms that extend down from the ceiling.
"This is going to be the neuro room," Miles says. "It's a hybrid room, and it's a biplane room, so that's why you see the two C-arms." That's a lot of jargon for the new equipment here. The point is: This operating room has all of the latest technology.
~SNIP (go to the link
Besides, it is hard to get money for a base when it is to be closed. Yet the Army built a physical therapy addition that Bethesda sent their wounded Marines to.
That "expose" about the mold - blow way out of proportion by WaPo. As mentioned, WR was swamped by the sudden influx of wounded. They were in the process of rehabing the OFF BASE hotel where the mold was. The room in question was not to be occupied. But a wounded soldier wanted a room by himself and took that room.
This is not 3rd party scuttlebutt. I have personal knowledge of this from our wounded warriors, in particular from the sergeant in charge of the hotel. Spent a night with him and others playing Texas Hold 'em inside Walter Reed. They even held a press conference to report the truth. Some press showed up but nothing reported by the media slims.
[Mr] T
Thanks so much for all that your group did!
You are welcome. Some long cold nights were tough, but when we got home, there was a certain satisfaction that it really does help our wounded warriors. And kudos as yours helped.
[Mr T
It's nothing like that. This inter branch rivalry has been invented by Hollywood. Air Force pilots are commonly assigned to the Navy for carrier training. And Navy personnel go to medical specialist in other branches hospitals all the time. If they build an "Arny" hospital on a Navy base, it will be staffed with doctors, medics, and "corpse men" and no one will really care.
We have $4.2 Billion to give away to Illegals in tax refunds they cannot receive via law, but we have no money for military hospitals for our nation's heroes.
This nation should hang its head in shame.
The next time I see a car with an Obama bumper sticker on it, I will spit on the pavement.
God bless the Freepers who were there.
WHAT are you reading? This new facility is probably the best equipped medical facility in the country, and it was started long before Obama even ran for POTUS. The old Walter Reed was closed under the BRAC, and merged with the old Bethesda Naval Medical Center.
This story is just about how the merger works with the two branches bringing together their traditions into one facility. Which in itself is silly. In the OR and on the floor, they are all medical professionals who want the best for their patients.
Maryland PING!
thanks for the ping to this thread(would have missed it otherwise)
strange mixture of emotions for you all who have been the warriors each Friday.
Thanks Drango. I appreciate being made aware of that.
Kudos to the D.C. chapter for being there. I appreciate that very much too.
Yep, I would have also missed it but OwenKellogg pinged me. For a few days after we looked to see what the media wrote but did not see anything. Sure glad that others found articles.
It was strange to not be at Walter Reed last night. Felt like it was a Saturday.
[Mr] T
Aaand... another Freeper with the six degrees of seperation from everything to homosexuality.
Professionals that they may be inter service rivalry wouldn’t surprise me in the least. As an example I offer the anger the services show when another one gets into their “territory” (i.e. the Army doing upper air stuff or the Air Force doing ground stuff).
I had occasion to visit Walter Reed in the 90s. It is not located in the best area if you must use public transportation to get to it. The condition of the street in the Freeper pic on this post is evidence that is still the case.
When I was there the hospital—understanding I was there for only about three hours—did not seem too dependent or retiree friendly. One poor women, whose husband was awaiting a colonoscopy, had to come out into the waiting room and plead for help. Her husband had an accident on the way to the bathroom. There was no one present to help her. A receptionist gave her a bucket, mop and some rags.
This disregard for basic privacy was always present in my 28-years (20 Active Duty) experience with US Army hospitals and health centers.
As for the merging of redundant services—who would oppose that? I don’t see any need for Army, Navy or Air Force facilities. They are military facilities.
As far as waste, fraud and abuse are concerned there is still far too much of it. The Army was fairly diligent about prosecuting individuals. But, it seemed to me, there was only marginal interest in going after companies and their executives when it came to big ticket contracts. This was not entirely the fault of the military. Every military contract ultimately has its roots in a state that is represented by House and Senate politicians. They do not want anybody messing around with that arrangement. Why? It is how politicians with no personal wealth before public office are rich when they leave it.
But the politicians love to trot out the iconic $400 toilet seat or hammer when they want to beat up the military for wasteful spending. At its best this disingenuousness. There is a perfectly logical explanation for expensive toilet seats and hammers.
When the military buys a weapon system—be it something that shoots, scoots or communicates—it intends the system to be in the inventory for decades. The system must be maintained over this extended time frame. This means the end item (howitzers, trucks and radios get destroyed or wear out over time) and spare parts must be available. The expense of maintaining the manufacturing pipeline is paid for by the expensive toilet seat or hammer.
So the next time you hear a politician bring up the “expensive” toilet seat you’ll know your about to be fed a poop sandwich. The object is to distract you from the real government contracting fraud that is necessary to enrich the politician while in office.
O just know what I have seen and see. Thanks to Dick Danzig the Navy has become a model of political correctness. I believe ‘homosexuality is incompatible with military service’ as the line that RR’s EO stated so succintly.
thanks for the ping
Serious institutional clash forthcoming:
Will it be “Corpsman Up!!!”?
Or “Medic!!!”?
speaking of which, I was told that the military is now selling homosexual magazines on base, now please anyone tell me this is not for real.
Senior Navy medical leadership has been very weak for some time, the Army rolled them. It has been Bethesda Naval Hospital for decades, that now just goes away as if it never existed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.