After 102 years in service to our nation, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, as we know it, will be closing its doors. In the next few months patients and staff will move into the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, in Virginia.
Col. Norvell V. Coots, commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and CEO of Walter Reed Health Care System recorded this message to our Army Family today to reassure our Army wounded warriors, family members, veterans, dependents and others receiving care that the quality of care will continue to be the best in the world.
The official ‘casing of the colors’ ceremony for Walter Reed Army Medical Center will take place on July 27th and patients will be moved out of the hospital in August.
“We’ve been talking about this move for the past five or six years,” said Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army Surgeon General. “And now we are so (close) toward achieving our final goal, with the help of the Navy, (and) in full view of the nation.”
“To make this move during the pinnacle of war, to combine the Navy and Army and build a new hospital, three times the size of the original hospital … this is comparable to flying that helicopter through a field of combat,” Schoomaker said at a July 6th meeting with Walter Reed staff.
“By Sept 15, 2011, I’m absolutely convinced (we can make this move) without a hitch.”
“This is what the Army does. It moves to where the gunfire is … where we’re needed. Bringing these two cultures — the Army and the Navy — together has been a phenomenal achievement,” Schoomaker said.
The realignment of Walter Reed is not the only hospital news in the National Capital Region during the next few months. The DeWitt Army Community Hospital on Fort Belvoir will also be moving into the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in October.
These moves are a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations.
See all the articles related to this move and all the relative social media links by visiting: http://www.army.mil/walterreedmove/index.html.
Have questions about the move? Leave them in the comments section.
