The
Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) is the
United States Army's flagship medical center on the
east coast of the United States. Located on 113 acres (457,000&_160;m²) in
Washington, D.C., it serves more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military. The center is named after Major
Walter Reed (1851-1902), an army physician who led the team which confirmed that
yellow fever is transmitted by
mosquitoes rather than direct contact.
Since its origins, what is now the WRAMC medical care facility has grown from a bed capacity of 80 patients to approximately 5,500 rooms covering more than 28 acres (113,000&_160;m²) of floor space. WRAMC will be combining with the Bethesda naval hospital by 2011 to form the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC).
Today, Fort McNair enjoys a strong tradition as the intellectual headquarters for defense. Furthermore, with unparalleled vistas of the picturesque waterfront and the opposing Virginia shoreline, the historic health clinic at Fort McNair, the precursor of today's Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), overlooks the residences of top officials who choose the famed facility for the delivery of their health care needs.
"Walter Reed’s Clinic," the location of the present day health clinic at Washington D.C., occupies what was from 1898 until 1909 the General Hospital at what was then Washington Barracks, long before the post was renamed in honor of Lt. Gen. McNair who was killed in Normandy in 1944 by friendly fire. The hospital served as the forerunner of Walter Reed General Hospital; however, the Victorian era waterfront dispensary remains and is perhaps one of America’s most historically significant military medical treatment facilities. It is reported that Walter Reed lived and worked in the facility when he was assigned as Camp Surgeon from 1881 to 1882. After having served on other assignments, he returned as Professor of Medicine and Curator of the Army Medical Museum. Some of his epidemiological work included studies at Washington Barracks, and he is best known for discovering the transmission of yellow fever. In 1902, Major Reed underwent emergency surgery here for appendicitis and died of complications in this U.S. Army Medical Treatment Facility (MTF), within the very walls of what became his final military duty assignment.
