WP: Army Fixing Patients' Housing

[Rose Siding]

By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 20, 2007; Page A01

Walter Reed Army Medical Center began repairs yesterday on Building 18, a former hotel that is used to house outpatients recuperating from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan and that has been plagued with mold, leaky plumbing and a broken elevator.

The facility's commander, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, said Army staff members inspected each of the 54 rooms at the building and discovered that outstanding repair orders for half the rooms had not been completed. He said that mold removal had begun on several rooms and that holes in ceilings, stained carpets and leaking faucets were being fixed.
...
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.

Walter Reed and Army officials have been "meeting continuously for three days" since the articles began appearing, Weightman said. A large roundtable meeting with Army and Defense Department officials will take place at the Pentagon early this morning to continue talks about improvements in the outpatient system, he added.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/19/AR2007021900759.html

[SoFlaJet]

1. they BETTER

get those constuction crews over there TODAY-watch....when the senate and especially the House gets back the GOP is gonna take a hard hit on this national disgrace

[youngdem]

2. Woah, that was quick....Behold the power of the press

Too bad this government only acts decently when absolutely shamed to do so, and only when there are NO pathetic excuses available.

[rodeodance]

3. amazing what the right publicity can do.

[peacebird]

4. I called Warner to demand he take action, and Webb as well

It's a disgrace that our injured soldiers should be treated this way. It is absolutely appalling. PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESS PEOPLE. Put pressure on them to give the military the money it needs to get the medical facilities back in ship-shape condition.

[juajen]

6. Corruption and cronyism is where the money has gone

Accountability should now be at the forefront. Find where the money was redirected. They'll hide this, of course, but, with dems in charge, we have a better chance than usual to find the path the money took.

[LiberalEsto]

5. NEXT: fix the bureacracy

and stop making injured soldiers have to haggle through months of red tape to get the disability benefits they've earned.

Bet they won't do it, though. It's much easier to repaint a couple of walls and make everything look nice and shiny.

[Laughing Mirror]

7. and even those nice & shiny cosmetics will not last long

Walter Reed is being phased out and is supposed to close in 4 years anyway and operations moved, I think, farther out to Bethesda. Those leafy 113 acres Walter Reed has been occupying for the past 200 years, right up the street from the White House, are just too damn close to the action downtown to just let sit there.

But I think you're right, LiberalEsto. What's needed everywhere, from top to bottom, are not cosmetics but structural changes, even though the structures seem to be collapsing, no longer able to support the demands made on them. Maybe soon new better structures will be built in their place.

[politicat]

11. I'm so ambivalent about the move...

It's really good to have WR so close to Congress and the White House because it is so much harder for them to ignore the wounded when they can get on the shuttle to go to Capitol Hill... But

My father was there for a couple of months back in the 90s for tests and treatment, and the noise and pollution was horrific. It was difficult to get any sleep because of the traffic noise, and we were not accustomed to city pollution, so we spent about the first three weeks with nasty allergy and sinus problems. Putting it out in Bethesda would be better for patients' health, but it will make it easier for the WH to forget to be fair.

[Miss Chybil]

8. It's amazing what happens when you shine a little light on these people. nt

[truthisfreedom]

9. And of course, someone's head rolled for letting the press inside that building.

But we'll never hear about that story.

[niyad]

10. the question is WHY did it take a story in WaPo for this to happen? WHY was this situation even

allowed to develop? this building was supposedly remodeled? by whom? for how much? can we sue them?

I say, UNTIl that building is completely repaired and habitable (meaning the "manageable mice level, for example, is ZERO) all those soldiers need to be housed where our idiot congress jerks are, and the jerks--and the military brass in charge of walter reed, can all stay there.

there aren't enough words to express my outrage and anger at this situation and every single person responsible for it, starting with BUSH--better yet, move them all to the White House, and let bush and co stay in building 18.

[maxrandb]

12. In the Navy we call this

"polishing a turd".

Doesn't matter how many coats of paint or sections of dry-wall they replace, the "turd" is the entire Medical Board and disability determination process. Please see my post in GD for some stories that will make you so pissed you can't see straight


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=261706&mesg_id=263856