thedrifter
03-09-07, 08:41 AM
Feds review N.C. military hospitals
Updated: 3/9/2007 6:54 AM
By: Associated Press
FORT BRAGG -- North Carolina's three military hospitals have been contacted or visited recently by Pentagon fact-finding teams in the wake of disclosures of shoddy care at one of the country's top Army hospitals.
A team of about two dozen people from the Defense Department visited the state's largest military hospital, Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, hospital spokeswoman Shannon Lynch said Wednesday. The team requested hospital data, visited clinics and toured barracks where soldiers stay when receiving outpatient care.
"Basically they asked us to walk them through everything from the point a soldier is air-evaced here," Lynch said.
Marine hospitals at Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point, and a clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base also have been contacted, officials said.
President Bush has ordered a comprehensive review of conditions at military and veterans hospitals after substandard outpatient care was revealed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., one of the premier facilities for injured soldiers.
Congress has held hearings on the scandal, and a bipartisan panel was formed to investigate problems at military hospitals, which have been overwhelmed by injured troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush said the panel would work to restore confidence in the system of caring for wounded U.S. troops.
Pentagon fact-finding teams are expected to visit 11 of the country's largest military medical facilities, including Womack. The hospital has 158 beds.
Womack administrators created a clinic for wounded soldiers as the Iraq war began in March 2003. Lynch said a case worker is assigned to each soldier who follows the soldier through the medical system, making sure follow-up appointments are scheduled and problems are avoided.
Case workers are also used at the Naval hospital at Camp Lejeune, said Capt. Brian Dawson, the facility's second in command. The hospital doesn't have outpatient housing, though a unique Wounded Warrior Barracks operated by the Marines was built at the urging of a Marine officer. Reporters and outsiders visit the well-kept barracks regularly.
The smaller Naval Hospital Cherry Point has two case managers who handle only 34 service members, about the same load as one case worker at Camp Lejeune.
Womack opened in 2000, and the Cherry Point hospital in 1994. Camp Lejeune's medical facility, which opened in 1982, is being renovated.
Smaller military medical centers also have gotten attention.
The Thomas Koritz Clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro has treated only three patients injured in Iraq or Afghanistan, but its officials have been contacted about offsite housing and case management, clinic spokesman Master Sgt. Arthur Webb said.
The clinic has no hospital beds or offsite housing but does have case management.
Ellie
Updated: 3/9/2007 6:54 AM
By: Associated Press
FORT BRAGG -- North Carolina's three military hospitals have been contacted or visited recently by Pentagon fact-finding teams in the wake of disclosures of shoddy care at one of the country's top Army hospitals.
A team of about two dozen people from the Defense Department visited the state's largest military hospital, Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, hospital spokeswoman Shannon Lynch said Wednesday. The team requested hospital data, visited clinics and toured barracks where soldiers stay when receiving outpatient care.
"Basically they asked us to walk them through everything from the point a soldier is air-evaced here," Lynch said.
Marine hospitals at Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point, and a clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base also have been contacted, officials said.
President Bush has ordered a comprehensive review of conditions at military and veterans hospitals after substandard outpatient care was revealed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., one of the premier facilities for injured soldiers.
Congress has held hearings on the scandal, and a bipartisan panel was formed to investigate problems at military hospitals, which have been overwhelmed by injured troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush said the panel would work to restore confidence in the system of caring for wounded U.S. troops.
Pentagon fact-finding teams are expected to visit 11 of the country's largest military medical facilities, including Womack. The hospital has 158 beds.
Womack administrators created a clinic for wounded soldiers as the Iraq war began in March 2003. Lynch said a case worker is assigned to each soldier who follows the soldier through the medical system, making sure follow-up appointments are scheduled and problems are avoided.
Case workers are also used at the Naval hospital at Camp Lejeune, said Capt. Brian Dawson, the facility's second in command. The hospital doesn't have outpatient housing, though a unique Wounded Warrior Barracks operated by the Marines was built at the urging of a Marine officer. Reporters and outsiders visit the well-kept barracks regularly.
The smaller Naval Hospital Cherry Point has two case managers who handle only 34 service members, about the same load as one case worker at Camp Lejeune.
Womack opened in 2000, and the Cherry Point hospital in 1994. Camp Lejeune's medical facility, which opened in 1982, is being renovated.
Smaller military medical centers also have gotten attention.
The Thomas Koritz Clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro has treated only three patients injured in Iraq or Afghanistan, but its officials have been contacted about offsite housing and case management, clinic spokesman Master Sgt. Arthur Webb said.
The clinic has no hospital beds or offsite housing but does have case management.
Ellie