Walter Reed Army Medical Center Getting Much Needed Repairs

   Bad publicity will sometimes get good things accomplished such as the repairs that are needed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It looks as if those repairs were started yesterday after a Washington Post story over the weekend spoke about the mold and mildew and the suicides of some patients.

   The hospital has even managed to fix a broken elevator!

   This is kind of pathetic when one of the premier military hospitals in the country has certain buildings falling apart and then has the nerve to place wounded patients from Iraq in these buildings. This is our country/administration caring about our troops?

Washington Post

Spec. Jeremy Duncan, whose room has a moldy wall that was featured in one photograph in the Post series, has been moved to another room while workers make repairs. Duncan will be able to return to his room when the work is completed, Weightman said.

Weightman said the medical center has received an outpouring of concern about conditions and procedures since the articles appeared and has taken steps to improve what soldiers and their families describe as a messy battlefield of bureaucratic problems and mistreatment.

"We're starting to attack how we'll fix and mitigate" some of the problems, he said.

Social workers will now be stationed around the clock at Mologne House, the 200-room hotel on the post where many of the outpatients live. Plans are being developed to better train other staff members who deal with outpatient needs.

The Army will also consider moving some outpatients to its other medical centers throughout the United States and will determine over the next weeks whether more workers are needed at Walter Reed.

 

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