US Army School of Nursing - Taps Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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!• p).Q.a l i toxv of Walttt i eeb (General o pital lALTEK REED tiEXERAL liOSITlAE is maintained for tlu- care of the sick and woimded in the Army, as well as those discharged or disal)led during the war. The late Major ' alter Reed, of the Army Medical Corps, a famous surg-eon, sanitarian, and bacteriologist, whose investi- gations and researches in typhoid fever, cholera, and yellow fever are especially noteworthy, is the man in who.se honor this institution was named. The history of the Walter Reed General }Tos])ital is one of rapid development. l he hospital is situated in Takoma Park on a tract of land comjjrising 109 acres. The ground on which the hospital stands has a militarv history of its own. It is on the site of the skirmi.sh of Fort Stevens, which was the engagement between the Union forces under General McCook and the Con- federate troops led hy General Earlv. As early as 1862, it had been recommended l)y the Surgeon General that a permanent hospital be established in Washington in connection with the Army Medical School, but it was not until 1905 that Congress authorized the purchase of the land which was designated as the site of the new militarv hospital to be given the name of Walter Reed General Hospital. The Admin- istration Building was com])leted in 190S. As the Hosjtital expanded, additional buildings were erected and at the ])resent time, besides the numerous temporary buildings, there are eight permanent buildings, the prevailing type of architecture being Maryland Colonial. - 1923 22 ]

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= Ban among the .Vmerican troops stationed at Havana. The mortality rate was extremely high, as no available means of controlling the disease was at that time known. A committee headed by Major Walter Reed, whose assistants were Dr. James Carol. Dr. Jesse W. Lazear, and Dr. jVristides .Agramonte. was sent to Havana to investigate the condition there. The record of that investi- gation is a story of unflinching duty, of self-sacrifice and self-efifacement, a story of men who unhesitatingly volunteered to offer themselves as subjects for tests whose outcome might be and sometimes were fatal. The unfaltering work of these men and their wonderful, inspiring lovalty to their cause made the commission successful. After carefully observing a great many cases and aided by bacterial and niicroscojMcal study. Dr. Reed discovered that the mosquito C. fasciatus serves as the intermediate host for the parasite of yellow fever. Thus by protecting ])atients from the carriers and eradication of the mosquitoes, a definite method of control was made possible, although the specific organism which causes yellow fever was unknown. E. ])eriments were conducted to discover the exact length of time necessar - for incubation. It was at this time that Dr. Lazaer was bitten by one of the dread carriers. He developed yellow fever in its most virulent form and died a few days later. The hardshijis and sac- rifices of that little band of workers in Cuba brought direct results. Not a single case of yellow fever occurred in Havana and as far as is known in Cuba in 1002. The world was thus freed of a dread disease. Upon his return to ' ashington, Alajor Keed resumed his work at the .■ rmy IMedical School and as Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology in Co!uml)ian University. In 1902 Harvard University bestowed upon him the honorary degree of M. A., and shortly after the degreed of LL. D. was con- ferred on him by the University of Alichigan. At the zenith of his career, with great work done but such far-reaching possibilities before him. the great man w as obliged to leave the field to other daring searchers. At the Army Hospital P.arracks. on November 22, 1902, Major Reed was operated u])on for appendicitis. Due to his weakened con- dition and lowered vitality, he was unable to cope with the complications that followed and he died the sixth day after the operation. He rests with the world ' s heroes at Arlington. On a knoll overlooking the City of ' ashington stands the beautiful marble monument which his wife and two children have erected to his memory. Dr. Reed was a skilled surgeon : he was a world-famed bacteriologist ; but the greate.sl lesson of his life is : that the secret of happiness and usefulness lies rather in giving what we can to life than in getting what we can from it. 1923 [21 1

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pi.€ a The Hospital was formally opened on April 14, 190S), there being on duty at that time five officers, sixty-two enlisted men. and three civilian employees. The patients in the hos])ital at the end of May included five officers, eleven enlisted men, and one civilian. On June 21, 1911, one chief nurse and three nurses joined the personnel, a fifth nurse arriving three days later. The enormous expansion which became necessary may be better understood when we learn that the bed ca])acity increased from 930 beds at the end of 1917 to 2,500 beds at the end of 1918. Though the construction of temporary build- ings had been begun in 1917. additional land was acquired a year later and more temporarv buildings were constructed to meet this need. The first real contingent of overseas wounded arrived in July. 1918, and thereafter until the end of the year averaged about 300 monthly. . t the close of the year there were 865 orthopedic cases, 620 being amjjutations. With the increase in the numbers of patients followed a Cdrresjionding increase in the personnel and all the hospital facilities. All indications that the hospital is building for the future, when it will undoubtedly be the Army medical center of Eastern United States, is manifested by the complete and thorough equipment of its various dei)artments. The Laboratory, X-Kay De- partment. Hydro and Electro Therapy De])artments. ( )ccu])ational Therapy 1923 [23]