I had intended to write this week about recent Veteran related legislation -- that can wait. At 0637 hours (6:37 a.m.) this morning as I checked some of my daily veteran-related information sources, Larry Scott brought the following Washington Post article to my attention. You see, I too have noticed that many people I've spoken with recently seem to have confused berthing-facilities with health-care. After you read this, I know... at least you won't.
Attribution
While I've done some of my own "blue-penciling" I read the following from Larry Scott's 04-20-2007 #2, VA Watchdog dot Org, VA News Flash from Larry Scott (
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfAPR07/nf042007-2.htm
), which was taken from the Washington Post Military Matters Columnist Steve Vogel's Thursday, April 19, 2007 (Page T05) article (
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041701617.html
)
"Top-notch," he said. "Best care I got anywhere." -- The Other Side To Walter Reed
Three nights before he died, Robert W. Riddle lay in a bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, struggling to talk.
Melanoma had ravaged his body, leaving the once-energetic 44-year-old father of two weak and debilitated. His wife, Army Col. Becky Samson, spoon-fed him a drink, trying to quench his thirst. Riddle, attached to tubes and on pain medication, faded in and out of consciousness.
But Riddle had a message to deliver about the care he had received at Walter Reed. When he spoke, it was barely a whisper.
"Top-notch," he said. "Best care I got anywhere."
Riddle felt passionately that revelations that had filled the newspapers and airwaves in recent weeks about failures in the care of veterans were only part of the story of Walter Reed.
Samson, a Gulf War veteran assigned to Army logistics headquarters at the Pentagon, said she and her husband were disappointed by the breakdowns in outpatient care for wounded veterans and shoddy conditions in some buildings at the hospital. The problems were disclosed in articles in The Washington Post and affirmed last week by an independent review panel appointed by the Pentagon.
"There's no excuse," said Samson, 47. "A lot of our veterans weren't treated properly. That's coming to light. But there is another side to Walter Reed. There are unsung heroes. In this case, that would be the people that treated Robert."
Riddle's melanoma was diagnosed last April, and the Springfield resident soon began a course of aggressive treatment at Walter Reed, including radiation and chemotherapy. He went to Walter Reed because his wife's military status entitles her family to health care.
The cancer quickly proved aggressive, but Riddle pushed back.
"He was the kind of guy for whom each failure was converted to a new challenge to meet," said Col. Thomas Reid, chief of hematology and oncology at Walter Reed. "He'd always ask me, 'What's next, Doc?' "
The options dwindled. The cancer spread to his brain, and fluid filled his stomach. He tired easily but kept coaching his 12-year-old son Brandon's basketball team, exhorting the boys from his wheelchair.
On March 11, Riddle reported to Walter Reed for the last time and was soon checked into a new hospice suite for terminally ill patients. "Anything he needed, he got," said Samson. "They supported him tooth and nail." When an attendant was not available, a doctor fetched ice chips to keep Riddle's mouth moist.
In the days before he died, Riddle grew agitated at the reports of problems at Walter Reed. "He grabbed my arm and said, 'I want to tell my story,' " recalled a close friend, Col. Daniel Baggio, chief of the Army's media relations division.
Riddle was particularly irritated when family members and friends expressed alarm that he was at the hospital. "They'd say, 'That's not a good place for him to be,'" Samson said. "We'd have to explain, 'Look, Walter Reed is a good hospital.'"
Riddle fought to stay alive, hoping to attend a family wedding at which his 7-year-old daughter, Paula, would be a flower girl. "He very much wanted to see that, because he knew it would be the only time he saw her walk down the aisle," Samson said.
When the wedding day arrived, he was too sick to go, though his daughter walked down the aisle. Two days later, on March 19, Riddle died.
Last week, more than 100 friends, family members and colleagues attended his funeral at St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Springfield and the subsequent interment of his ashes at Arlington National Cemetery. Doctors and caseworkers from Walter Reed were among the mourners at the April 11 service.
Dudley Riddle delivered a remembrance saluting those who had cared for his brother.
"Rob received outstanding care -- some of the best medical care in the world -- but that wasn't all he received," Riddle said. "He received their compassion and their friendship. I'm here to tell you there's a different part of Walter Reed, a part that's wonderful."
As he told us about the care he had received there "Top-notch," he said. "Best care I got anywhere."
--- Regards, Walt Schmidt
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