Apr 13 2007
Walter Reed Army Medical Center Closing
Should Walter Reed Army Medical Center be closed as soon as possible (Washington Post, 4-12-07) as a top level Pentagon review panel has concluded? Absolutely Not!!! Who are these guys? Have they every visited Walter Reed? Are they even aware of the relationships that have been formed over the years between families and the institution? The panel is wrong! I grew up in DC and I know the importance of Walter Reed to the community. My dad had a liver transplant at Walter Reed when he was a Chaplain in World War II. I remember him coming out on a balcony and waving at me and my brother. Over the years, I’ve had many friends who live on three sides of Walter Reed. The Medical Center has been good for the neighborhood and vice versa. The fact that casualties overwhelmed the facility and the staff can be changed with a rearrangement of priorities. Certainly if you want to support a policy to close, realign, and expand the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda… you would not want to make improvements in northwest Washington. But… the patients, the staff, and the neighborhood deserve better. Time for them and us to say, “hell, no… we won’t go!”
