Use the VA Now to Supplement Walter Reed

The Washington Post reported Feb. 18, 2007, that hundreds of wounded soldiers and marines are living in rodent infested rooms in dilapidated buildings on the Walter Reed campus. Hundreds more who overflow the facilities are moved to regional hotels and apartments while they wait months on end for care from the understaffed, overworked hospital administration, which often loses records confounding the problems.

In Bedford, Mass. where I live, is a 500 bed Veterans Hospital with approximately 150 current residents leaving ample space. It is on a beautiful campus with a golf course and full physical therapy facilities in an historic New England town. During WWII it held as many as 1500 patients.

Why isn’t the Bedford VA Hospital used to house hundreds of wounded solders and their families who come to visit or stay? There is room; the community is willing, and the facilities available. If suitable healthcare could not be found in Boston, home of several world renowned hospitals, Hanscom AFB is 2 miles away and air shuttles could easily run between Bedford, MA and Walter Reed.

Surely this would be a better use of the tax payer’s money to treat our wounded, who average 10 months in rehabilitation and often longer, than forcing them into moldy and vermin infested buildings at Walter Reed beyond the public eye.