Final Walter Reed patient moves to Bethesda

By Sharon Renee TaylorAugust 30, 2011

Final Walter Reed patient moves to Bethesda
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Final WRAMC Salute
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Last WRAMC patient
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Col. Norvell Van Coots, commander of Walter Reed Healthcare System, far left, and Command Sgt. Maj. Rodolfo DelValle, far right, ensure a smooth transfer for Walter Reed's final patient, Sgt. Thomas Aaron Shepard, as he is lifted into an ambulance he... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

WASHINGTON (Aug. 30, 2011) -- The last patient departed Walter Reed Army Medical Center Saturday morning with a rousing applause from staff members and a salute from the hospital's command.

Fort Drum's Sgt. Thomas Aaron Shepard, 27, was the last of 18 patients to move to Bethesda during the early morning hours Aug. 27. The 10th Mountain Division sniper had lost his left leg and sustained serious injury to his right leg just more than a month earlier when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan July 16 during his second deployment downrange.

Shepard's wife Brandy stood by him as pain management team members, trauma surgeons and nurses were on standby and transport teams arrived on Ward 57 to move Shepard and the orthopedic ward's five other remaining patients. Second Lt. Brenton Arihood said he was honored to serve as Shepard's transport nurse for the move to Bethesda, but not because he was the last Walter Reed patient.

"It's not whether [he's] the first or third or last. To see a guy that I've cared for more or less from the beginning," Arihood explained. The nurse said he has worked with Shepard since the sergeant first arrived on the orthopedic ward more than a month earlier.

Outside ambulances lined the horseshoe-shaped drive in front of Heaton Pavilion. Earlier, more than a hundred hospital staffers and ambulance drivers rallied inside the hospital under the direction of Col. Norvell Van Coots, commander of Walter Reed Healthcare System, to ensure the continuity of care and a smooth transition for patients. Officials executed the planned move a day early as a pre-emptive measure, exercising safety precautions in the wake of Hurricane Irene. The storm battered the region with heavy winds and rain later that evening.

Coots reminded the group of his promise that the hospital would remain operational until the very last day.

"Here at last, today is the day," Coots said. "Today is not an ending but a new beginning, for the AMEDD, the military health system and our covenant with the American warrior past, present and future," the commander said. "Today is the day that we make our mark indelibly in American military and medical history, and for the rest of this day we are Walter Reed, America's Hospital, the home of warrior care and so much more."

Trauma Surgeon Dr. Darrell Carpenter joined other WRAMC staffers curbside as they watched the hospital commander and his deputies close the ambulance doors behind Shepard and salute.

"We got the last one in," Carpenter said.

(Sharon Renee Taylor is a staff writer for the Stripe newspaper at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.)