(Walter Reed, Bethesda) Two military medical icons become one

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Source: The Washington Post

Two of the nation’s flagship military hospitals will be combined into one on Saturday, the culmination of a costly and controversial decision six years ago to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center and expand the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center.

A parade of ambulances is scheduled to carry the last 30 patients from Walter Reed the seven miles to Bethesda on Saturday morning, effectively closing the historic Army hospital in Northwest Washington. The move, initially planned for Sunday, has been accelerated by one day in the hopes of beating Hurricane Irene.

As of Monday, the Bethesda facility will be known as the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will be the U.S. military’s largest medical center.

The move is part of a larger consolidation of military medicine in the Washington area stemming from the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision to shutter Walter Reed, which stunned the Washington region as well as Army medicine, particularly coming in the midst of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/two-military-medical-icons-become-one/2011/08/26/gIQAlfxFhJ_singlePage.html