WASHINGTON – The White House and congressional leaders called Tuesday for swift investigation and repair of the problems plaguing outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Top Army officials on Tuesday visited Building 18, the decrepit former hotel housing more than 80 recovering soldiers, outside the gates of the medical center.
Army Secretary Francis Harvey and Vice Chief of Staff Richard Cody toured the building and spoke to soldiers as workers in protective masks stripped mold from the walls and tore up soiled carpets.
Harvey said he was surprised and disappointed at the conditions and the frustrating bureaucratic delays. “In the warrior ethos the last line says you should never leave a fallen comrade, and from that facility point of view we didn’t live up to it,” he said, adding that conditions at the building are “inexcusable.”
At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow said he spoke with the president Tuesday about Walter Reed and the president told him: “Find out what the problem is and fix it.”
He said Bush “first learned of the troubling allegations regarding Walter Reed from the stories this weekend in The Washington Post. He is deeply concerned and wants any problems identified and fixed.” He said he did not know why the president, who has visited the facility many times in the past five years, had not heard about these problems before.
Walter Reed’s commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, said that case managers have been ordered to call each of the 700 outpatients to ask about problems they may be encountering. He has also put half-dozen senior enlisted officers from the hospital in charge of the outpatients’ companies normally in the hands of lower level platoon sergeants.
Also, a medic will now be stationed 24 hours a day at the Mologne House, the largest residence on the 113-acre post, to help soldiers with medical or psychological issues.
“We need to bring the Army people in and say, ‘What the hell is going on?’” said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
The secretaries of the Army and Navy announced they had begun a broader review of Walter Reed and the National Naval Medical Center and announced that an independent review group will be formed to investigate outpatient care and administrative processes.
Walter Reed also has launched a criminal investigation of the former head of the Army’s Medical Family Assistance Center, which aids injured soldiers.
Michael Wagner, who left his position several weeks ago, was supposed to match charities and donors with thousands of wounded soldiers who could not afford to feed their children, pay mortgages, buy plane tickets or put up visiting families in nearby hotels.
But while he was being paid to provide this service, Wagner was also seeking funders and soliciting donations for his own new charity, based in Texas, according to documents and interviews with current and former staff members.
Some families also said Wagner treated them callously and made it hard for them to receive assistance.
Find out more
Read about conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, soldiers’ stories about their experiences there and more online at The Washington Post’s Web site. Click on stories listed under “The Other Walter Reed” heading on the home page, www.washingtonpost.com.
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