Renovations Under Way at Walter Reed

Renovations Under Way at Walter Reed
by William H. McMichael, Army Times

WASHINGTON — The moldy walls and leaking ceilings in Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Building 18 are being repaired and officials say the tangled evaluation process that determines whether troops who've suffered war wounds can return to duty will be streamlined.

But the reassuring words from Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army surgeon general, didn't do much to lessen the Army's initial embarrassment over published reports about recovering vets who live in substandard conditions and face long delays dealing with pay, benefits and evaluations.

Kiley on Thursday called the reports in The Washington Post over the weekend "one-sided" but acknowledged the problems emphatically underlined earlier in the week by Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's chief of staff.

"Clearly, we've had a breakdown in leadership, and the bureaucratic, medical and professional processes bogged down a speedy solution to these problems," Cody said…

The reports in the Post and the Military Times papers also caught the eye of lawmakers on Capitol Hill with Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and John Kerry of Massachusetts calling for legislation to improve the situation at Walter Reed.

The Pentagon announced Feb. 20 it would form an independent review group to look at outpatient care and administrative processes at both Walter Reed and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The Army and Navy have begun separate probes.

No major problems have been identified at the Navy hospital; officials said the probe is largely precautionary. Nor have any concerns been raised about the quality of medical care.

Spc. Nick Helffarich, 22, is intimately familiar with the concerns at Walter Reed, where some 650 wounded vets are recuperating.

A March 7 explosion in Mosul, Iraq, left Helffarich with a lacerated liver; a broken pelvis, vertebrae and wrist; and lung and ear damage. He's been at Walter Reed for nearly a year.

For months, he lived where most recovering vets live at Walter Reed: in the on-campus Mologne House, with its well-appointed lobby and housekeeping service. Both Mologne and Building 18, an overflow facility outside the main campus, were once hotels but clearly from different sides of the tracks.

When Helffarich moved to Building 18 two months ago, he found himself in a room with a broken shower, no trashcan and *****roaches.

He is just a few weeks into his medical review board process, but already is having a hard time meeting with his counselor. "I'd go in for my scheduled appointment, and she's not even there," Helffarich said.

Kiley said the Army has already added more counselors and physical disability boards "to help us handle the volume of soldiers that are coming through here." He also said officials are examining whether to add more case managers.

"We are committed to working within this organization, with the rest of the Army, DoD and the Congress, if we need their help, to further improve this process of healing and, where needed, medically retiring soldiers," Kiley said.

Kiley said he does not consider Building 18 to be "substandard" but acknowledged it needed work. He said the hospital now has a contracted maintenance service for the facility. Within 60 days, the Army Medical Command will have a plan to perform a major renovation on the building, which will require all 66 troops now staying there to be moved out, he said.

Cody said the problems were not due to a lack of resources. He said no one has been relieved of command over the problems.

"We will do the right thing across the board as we continue to assess where the leadership failure and breakdowns were," he said. "I will not be satisfied until we have a family assistance center at Walter Reed where it's one stop, it has an 'easy button', and families and the soldiers all can take care of their financial issues, their scheduling issues, their follow-up care issues."

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