Walter Reed Army Medical Center to Close After 102 Years
- Posted on July 23, 2011 at 6:51pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army’s flagship hospital where privates to presidents have gone for care, is closing its doors after more than a century. 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.
Col. Norvell V. Coots, commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and CEO of Walter Reed Health Care System, on the closing:
President Dwight 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 to show their respect to the wounded. Through the use of medical diplomacy, the center also has tended to foreign leaders.
The storied hospital, which opened in 1909, was scarred by a 2007 scandal about substandard living conditions on its grounds for wounded troops in outpatient care and the red tape they faced. It led to improved care for the wounded, at Walter Reed and throughout the military. By then, however, plans were moving forward to close Walter Reed’s campus.
Two years earlier, a government commission, noting that Walter Reed was showing its age, voted to close the facility and consolidate its operations with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and a hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., to save money.
Former and current patients and staff members will say goodbye at a ceremony Wednesday on the parade grounds in front of the main concrete and glass hospital complex. Most of the moving will occur in August. On Sept. 15, the Army hands over the campus to the new tenants: the State Department and the District of Columbia. The buildings on campus deemed national historic landmarks will be preserved; others probably will be torn down. The city is expected to develop its section for retail and other uses.
The new facility will be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It will consolidate many of Walter Reed’s current offerings with the Navy hospital.
“Frankly, I will say it’s with a heavy heart that Walter Reed closes. I don’t know. I know that there was a process for that decision, but we’ve lost a great, important part of history,” said Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of the former president.
She recalled bringing to the hospital a birthday cake she had baked for her grandfather, who spent the last several months before his death in 1969 in a special suite where politicians and foreign leaders visited him.
There are countless pieces of history throughout the campus.
At the rose garden, some nurses from the Vietnam War era were said to have married their patients. The memorial chapel is where President Harry S. Truman went for his first church service after taking office, following a visit with Pershing, who lived in a suite at Walter Reed for several years, said John Pierce, historian for the Walter Reed Society.
A marker identifies the spot on the hospital grounds where, long before the hospital was built, Confederate sharpshooters fired near President Abraham Lincoln, leading an officer to call Lincoln a “damned fool” and order him to the ground, according a brochure produced by Walter Reed about its history.
President Calvin Coolidge’s teenage son died in the hospital from an infected blister he received while playing tennis at the White House, Pierce said. A black and white photo from 1960 shows then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson, a vice presidential candidate at the time, visiting the bedside of Vice President Richard Nixon, who was being treated for a staph infection.
Presidents now are sent to Bethesda for treatment because it’s considered more secure, said Sanders Marble, senior historian with the Office of Medical History at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
The hospital was named to honor Maj. Walter Reed, an Army physician who treated troops and American Indians on the frontier. Among his medical achievements was life-saving research that proved that yellow fever was spread by mosquito. He died in 1902 at age 51 of complications related to appendicitis with a friend and colleague, Lt. Col. William C. Borden, treating him.
“I’m sure (Borden) felt very guilty about that, and over the course of the next several years, he campaigned to get money for a new hospital and of course, wanted to name it for his good friend Walter Reed,” Pierce said.
The original redbrick hospital had about 80 beds, but inpatient capacity grew by the thousands during the wars of the last century. Today, it treats about 775,000 outpatients annually, and has an inpatient load of about 150. It wasn’t just service members and military retirees treated at the hospital over the decades, but their families, too. Countless babies were born at the hospital into the 1990s.
Rehabilitation for the wounded, including care for amputees, has been an important part of the mission since it opened. The wounded commonly spend a year or longer at the hospital now, although they are more quickly moved to outpatient care.
Photos from World War I show troops at Walter Reed learning skills such as typing and knitting. During World War II, brochures distributed to the war amputees featured pictures of amputees smoking and shaving. The message was, “Your life isn’t over, don’t get down,” Marble said.
Despite all the warm feelings, a Washington Post investigation in 2007 uncovered shoddy living conditions in an outpatient ward known as Building 18. The report drew scrutiny of all aspects of care offered to the nation’s wounded.
The scandal would bring a call for improved living conditions and the opening of an advanced rehabilitation center for troops with amputations. On a recent day, several amputees, including some who had lost three limbs, were exercising in the room, one even on a skateboard.
Marine Sgt. Rob Jones, 25, is a double amputee from the Afghanistan war who spends much of his days rowing. His goal is to become an FBI agent or make the U.S. Adaptive Rowing Team.
One of more than 440 troops from the recent wars getting outpatient care, he sat on a bench outside the center reading a book. His prosthetics were visible below his shorts.
“I’ll probably just remember the people I was working with, the staff here, how much they helped me get back on my feet.” Jones said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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Comments (105)
dcwu
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 9:26pmThe absurd thing is that Walter Reed was extensively refurbished ($$$) in preparing to shut the doors. This is how BRAC closures are done. Why?
Report Post »johnlee
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 9:58pmWE ARE SO AMAZING. This madness will end because truth is,is.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 10:09pmIs it not obvious??
Report Post »This is how taxpayer dollars are ‘wisely’ spent. This is intentional; and most likely premeditated. This way the new tenants will ‘save’ taxpayer dollars and blame the military for wanton waste; after all the military is a conservative entity, following the constitution and all that.
teamarcheson
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 10:17pmWhat do you expect when America elects satan from hell.
Report Post »BobEd
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 9:59amQuote:
“What do you expect when America elects satan from hell.”
He may be from Hell but it’s by way of Kenya. Go to this website and go down to the Kenyan town of Kisumu and read what the main attaction is:
http://m.world-guides.com/kenya/kenya_districts.html
http://m.world-guides.com/kenya/kenya_districts.html
Report Post »oldoldtimer
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 10:34amWalter Reed was recently renovated for millions and now they are going to closet it? Sell it? I wonder who gets to buy it for 1/10 its value so they can become rich? who health care group gets it? Why would they wait until after the renovation to close it? I smell corruption and it is getting stronger the longer Obama and his radicals are in office.
Report Post »Wes Hardin
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 3:19pmQuote: “What do you expect when America elects satan from hell.”
You guys are too funny! Texas isn’t really hell, it just seems like it. And Bush isn’t Satan, he’s just one of his demons.
The tea gaggers whine about the need to cut spending and when it happens they cry like they’re being boiled alive. Their total IQ must be about 10 points. They are completely ignorant about American and world history, politics, and economics. On top of that they are raving racists.
Report Post »connie64
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 9:25pmWalter Reed cared and saved thousands of our brave warriors who fought to defend our great country. My personal experience with Walter Reed began in 1969 when my own father was treated there for advanced cancer. My father was MEDEVAC from Letterman Army Hospital in Presidio, San Francisco, another great, historical Army medical facility now closed. In 1992, my own son was MEDEVAC from Orlando, FL for treatment at Walter Reed. It’s a shame to see such a historical medical institution closed its doors. Over hundred years, Walter Reed, although marred by recent reports, has for a long time, stood alone in its profession. It’s a medical icon in American history. The professionals who labored diligently for the care of our wounded warriors and government dignitaries throughout its history deserves a sincere ‘Well Done’ from the nation. Thanks for the memories!
Report Post »teamarcheson
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 10:21pmNot a peep out of any Senator or Congressmen. Folks unless we do something with muskets quickly the satan will have America dismantled by 2012. Satan will make sure we not have the money to rebuild America.
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:45pmRummy and BRAC, not Obama. Look up the BRAC process. (sigh)
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 9:46pmSigh all you want. Obama could use his executive order to stop it.
Report Post »princessnutsack
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 10:42pm*sigh* some folks have lives to live, jobs to work and families to take care of, how dare we not have been knowledgeable of who was ultimately responsible, condescending B**** .
Report Post »dmt7rlp
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:44pmThis is a crying shame!! Who the H**** is making these decisons.. WALTER REED is as important as the White House itself.. So much a part of American History.. The staff is wonderful and is such a great teaching hospital..
Report Post »ACgirl
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 9:00pmGut Walter Reed the way we should gut the politicians in Washington. Then take the funds that pay for all the political bull in Washington and rebuild within the Walter Reed hospital and just temporarilly move the patients. With the spending accounts the elites in Washington have, we should be able to rebuild Walter Reed within this historical building in probably? Just two shopping trips of Michelle Obama?
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 7:07amActually, Donald Rumsfeld and the BRAC commission made this decision in 2005-2007 under the previous administration.
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 8:50am@princessnutsack
“how dare we not have been knowledgeable of who was ultimately responsible, condescending B**** .”
The plan to close (or more accurately relocate) WR has been public knowledge since 2005 and was covered by news outlets at that time and again in 2007. The informed public has known since the decision was made by BRAC and Donald Rumsfeld under the previous administration.
Report Post »lonewolf57
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:41pmGod Bless you Colonel Coots,and Sgt Jones.Always know that your loved and respected out here.USA.
Report Post »RedPepper2
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:27pmAnyone who ever served in our nation’s military knows the name “Walter Reed Hospital”. As long as this nation has one wounded military member why would we disband, discontinue and do away with the hospital name we all can relate to? Seems like more “change” we all didn’t realize would come down the pike if we pulled the wrong lever on Nov. 8,2008. Sad day in the US of A.
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 12:54amThis decision was made in 2005 and again in 2007 by Rumsfeld and the BRAC Commission under the previous administration; your protests are a little late.
Report Post »jmgair
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:11pmSo this is what all that Hope & Change has brought America, first the NASA Space Shuttle program gets destroyed and now Wakter Ried is closing. Thanks Barry, what is going away next ??
Report Post »ALL4FREEDOM
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 10:54pmThe economy.
Report Post »On Eagle Wings
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 10:38amour Liberty that so many fought and died for
Report Post »jarasan
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:11pmIt also has a pathology repository in a hydrogen bomb proof building that is also a bio museum.
Report Post »Rweb
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:00pmIt will be a sad day is there any tradition left
Report Post »LVMerrily
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:51pmThing that get old, have tradition, honor and ethics – just throw it all to the curb for some ugly cookie cutter project probably funded with Stimulus – part of FLOTUS re-writing history and traditions?
Report Post »staggerlee32
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:05pmHe hates America and hates our troops. We are colonialists to him. Just read and listen to his own words. Why do you think he said we need another military just as well funded and trained as the one we already have? Why is he spreading our troops even thinner around the middle east, getting them surrounded by people that want to kill them? Why isn’t he bringing them home like he said he was going to do when he was running for President? They all swore to defend the Constitution from enemies both foriegn and DOMESTIC!
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:49pmIt’s about time. They killed my Grandmother. Notice that the article says,
Report Post »“President Dwight Eisenhower died there. So did Gens. John J. Pershing and Douglas MacArthur.”
It should have been that they were saved there. I have been to this place many times and it was the horror of my childhood.
chershaw8
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:33pmEisenhauer, Pershing, McArthur were old……so?
Report Post »dmt7rlp
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:55pmAny hospital is a horror for a child.. Sorry, your parents made you go through that
Report Post »Wes Hardin
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 3:09pmEven Methuselah died when he reached 969 years.
Report Post »LIBSALWAYSLIE
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:31pmThis is so wrong, I cant find the words
Report Post »touch
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:47pmProbably the Obama administration saving more $$$$ so they can redistribute that wealth to the Illegals and Entitlement programs. You know the Obama admin, very pro American indeed, right?
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 12:47amSince this decision was made in 2007 by Rumsfeld and the BRAC Commission under the previous administration, your protests are a lamentations are a little late.
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 12:52amsorry – “protests and lamentations.”
Report Post »Wes Hardin
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 3:11pmTalk about writer’s block. You had 7 years to find the words.
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:19pmAt a time in our nation’s history, when the largest number of wounded and amputees are coming home to heal (they used to just die on the battlefield) and we need VA hospitals the most, WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Report Post »hud
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:29pmClosing a badly out dated hospital. The nation must re evaluate or die. We will owe 60 trillion in 10 yrs or less. Reelect OBAMA – One Big Ass Mistake America
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:38pmOutdated hospital does not equate to closing it. How is that land going to be used????
Report Post »ACgirl
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:18pmAs I stated previously, why can’t the move be temporary, and we rebuild within the famous walls and landscape. Let‘s just take the money from Obama’s vacations, Michelle’s personal staff of (way too many people), and stop the air force 1 shuttle to anywhere when wanted. That should be enough funds to totally refurbish in one year.
Report Post »82dAirborne
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:25pmThat makes entirely too much sense.
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:28pmMore than likely the Golf Course Czar already has plans on paper for usage of the land after those nasty old hospital buildings after they’ve been razed.
Report Post »johnsell
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:57pmWay too much sense, however it just doesn‘t fit into Obama’s agenda……
Report Post »TelepromoterNChief
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:17pmThat’s the Old Military.
New one is more FLAMBOYANT thanks to You Know Who.
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 12:49amThis decision was made in 2007 by Rumsfeld and the BRAC Commission under the previous administration.
Report Post »stevoschmidt
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:16pmI’ll bet that the Walter Reed Center webpage will continue to stay operational and funded when the demolition teams starts.
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:15pmStop deploying & helping countries that hates us , that way we won’t lose more heroes + they wont get injured + with the money saved we can give better care to our veterans .
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:21pmHearing that loud and clear; bring them home already and stop this utter useless nonsense we are engaged in so much of the world. Save the real war for when we are attacked and then go in and utterly clean out the real enemies from top to bottom and then get back home as quick as possible.
Report Post »stevoschmidt
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:14pmI guess a private donation fund will have to be set up and volunteering will help.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:10pmA true piece of history…no more. But its soul will live on in its new facility, and …in time…it will earn its own honored history.
One day (but sadly, not in my lifetime) there will come a day when there will be no need for such places.
Report Post »ACgirl
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:15pmWhy can’t the move be temporary, and then they rebuild within the frame of the Walter Reed. This would be money much better spent than on all of Michelle Obama’s personal staff, and the numerous trips they both take in less than a year. Let’s figure the cost of those and put them into rebuilding a phenominal facility in Walter Reed.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:25pmI know in the retail business, it is always better (cheaper) to relocate a store than to remodel an old one. A relocation allows you to plan the building from scratch to meet todays needs (and the futures) rather than just adding on to an old facility helter/skelter as the need arises. The only time a remodel is preferable is when it sits in a strategic location you would not want others to have if you moved.
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:55pmCreestof… I agree with your thoughts. However, the Col. said that his staff was moving their operation to Bethesda (nowhere near new and probably needs renovation itself) and the rest going to Ft. Belvoir (also on the BRAC list from 2005 to close). Dumb idea to close a function VA hospital at this point in our history.
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:11pm@ CREESTOF
Report Post »Your rationale is totally erroneous. Your experience in the private sector has absolutely nothing to do with the execution of the government. B ut I‘ll bet they will spend frickin’ millions on doors, windoews wall coverings. insulation, Plumbing , heating, airconditioning before it is demolished. Probably still have work scheduled when the building is being hauled off- they just” didn’t get around to it while it was in use. I would also wager Reed will have to go down before a replacement is built- and- within 20 years- the replacement will be discarded. We are talking veterans administration here, right?
TRILO
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:10pmWhat a shame. From the scandal to the closing. Just another symptom of how our infrastructure has been neglected.
Report Post »PeachyinGA
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:35pmIt has been on the BRAC closing list since 2005. Still doesn’t mean common sense should prevail and exclude VA hospitals with such a current need with wounded military coming home daily. Should have gone for Fort Belvoir which is on the list … uhhh, wait … that‘s the POTUS’s private golf course on weekends. nevermind….
Report Post »stevoschmidt
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:09pmnational historic preserve just dont transfer the crazy lady from houston shell just rent it all out as storage.
Report Post »stevoschmidt
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:06pmclose the woodrow wilson institute and divert the funds to Walter Reed
Report Post »stevoschmidt
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:04pmWhat a disrespect. Our veterans and serving personnal desrve much better. And what do we hear from off the hill, a billion here a billion its not much in the big picture. classic bs
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on July 24, 2011 at 12:50amThis decision was made in 2007 by Rumsfeld and the BRAC Commission under the previous administration; your protests are a little late.
Report Post »blue_sky
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:04pmWhy not to save money on war in Libya. We give money there to Al-Qaida (oops, today we call them “rebels”) and save money on our wounded veterans – keep in mind the wounded became wounded because of the government’s false rational for war which was not declared by the Congress.
I am not surprise that active duty military donate to RON PAUL more than to other candidates combined (CNN.)
Report Post »lovenfl3
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 7:04pmAt least the name will live on in a brand new facility. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtwXCyZCPqM
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