Walter Reed Commander Responds
Mologne House On the Mend?
After my posting yesterday about heat and hot water issues at some of the buildings housing wounded warriors and their families at Walter Reed Army Medical Center I got several responses.
Some were from residents at Mologne House informing me that despite the statements from Walter Reed’s spokesman that all the problems had corrected, some were only fixed or being fixed, yesterday, after my original posting. One person said the heat had been out for weeks, not days.
When I asked the spokesman to “check his facts,” I got this follow-up email this morning. I am posting it in its entirety.
As I said in one of my Facebook status updates yesterday, this strikes me as more bad luck than incompetence. But still it’s not what we want for our wounded warriors.
Here’s the explanation from Maj. Gen. Carla Hawley-Bowland, the Commanding General of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Northern Regional Medical Command:
In response to the temporary loss of hot water in the Mologne House, we made extensive repairs to the plumbing system. Upon failure of a steam control valve on one hot water tank, we performed a controlled exchange of a valve from a tank in a separate office building. When the valve on the second hot water tank subsequently failed, we mechanically locked the failed valve in the open position to allow water to heat continuously.
Upon the arrival of a new valve, the failed valve on the second tank was replaced. While we are prepared to replace the controlled exchange valve at this time with a new valve, it is currently fully operational, so we have decided to wait until after the coming long weekend to avoid disruption of hot water service to our residents. We will schedule the final repair for an off-peak usage time and ensure Mologne House residents are notified in advance of the repair, which is anticipated to take approximately 9 hours.
Because the valve replacement required the water temperature to be checked in each room, we took advantage of this opportunity to do a thorough inspection of every room to identify any other maintenance issues that are required. Due to the some recurring issues that were identified, we are also in the process of replacing all faucets and thermostats, fully accommodating our Wounded, Ill and Injured preferences for time of repair.
Additionally we had a water pipe rupture in Delano Hall. Five warriors were relocated to other accommodations so that we can make repairs.
We are working to further modify the Mologne House to truly become the intermediate lodging facility that eases that step from inpatient status to complete transition.
We have now treated more than 12,000 wounded warriors from OIF and OEF since 2002. We have returned more than half of them to active duty, and continue to help those not returning to active duty to transition to a productive civilian life. We look forward to keeping you abreast of continued changes to constantly improve our care, procedures and facilities to fully support these brave volunteers and comrades-in-arms.
CARLA HAWLEY-BOWLAND
MG, US Army
CDR, NRMC℗ and WRAMC
Chief, Medical Corps
