Medline
Plus
The nation's authority for health info from NLM, NIH.
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WRNMMC has a rich history...
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Selects the
Site
In
1938, Congress appropriated funds for the acquisition of land for the
construction of a new Naval medical center, and President Franklin D.
Roosevelt selected the present site in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 5,
1938.
When President Roosevelt saw the spring-fed pond on the land, it reminded
him of the Biblical "Pool of Bethesda", a place of healing
and renewal, and felt it would be a perfect spot for the medical center.
Ground was broken for the Naval Medical Center on June 29, 1939 by Rear
Admiral Percival S. Rossiter, MC, USN, (Ret.), the former U.S. Surgeon
General whose steadfast support helped to make the project a reality.
President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Tower on Armistice Day,
November 11, 1940.
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The Original Center
The original
Medical Center was comprised of the Naval Hospital, designed to
hold 1,200 beds, and the Naval Medical School, the Naval Dental
School (now the National Naval Dental Center) and the Naval Medical
Research Institute.
In 1945, at the end of World War II, temporary buildings were
added to accommodate 2,464 wounded American Sailors and Marines.
The Medical Center is Expanded
In August of
1960, a $5.6 million dollar expansion project was initiated and
consisted of two five-story wings attached to the main building's
east side. Completed in the summer of 1963, Buildings 7 and 8
provided space for 258 beds and replaced the World War II temporary
ward buildings.
In January of 1973, the mission of the Naval Medical Center was
modified to include the provision: "to provide coordinated
dispensary health care services as an integral element of the
Naval Regional Health Care System, including shore activities,
as may be assigned."
This change established the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Region
and placed all naval health care facilities within the Naval District
Washington under the authority of the commanding officer of the
Medical Center.
The new inpatient buildings and the Naval Medical Center were
consolidated into one command on September 1, 1973 to form Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
.
In
1975, an extensive renovation began which included the construction
of two new buildings: Building 9, a three-story outpatient structure,
and Building 10, a seven-story, 500-bed inpatient facility, with
a combined area of more than 880,000 square feet.
In 1979, the remaining temporary buildings were replaced with
a multi-level staff-parking garage. This addition made Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
one of the largest medical facilities in
the country. The original Naval Medical Center tower has since
been deemed a historical landmark and entered into the Registry
of Historical Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
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