[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 26 (Monday, July 7, 2008)]
[Pages 943-945]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Walter Reed National 
Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland

July 3, 2008

    Thank you very much, Deputy Secretary England, for that generous 
introduction. I am so honored to be here at Bethesda National Naval 
Medical Center. This is often called the President's hospital. The 
reason why is this is where the President gets medical care. But I'm 
relieved today not to be on the treadmill, weighing in, and getting a 
blood test. [Laughter] I also will tell you that the care that the 
President gets here is extraordinary.
    I am so excited to be here for what is a grand occasion. This is a 
big deal, the breaking ground of a new joint medical facility for the 
men and women of our Armed Forces. Thank you all for joining us.
    In a few years, the current campus at Walter Reed will close, and 
many of its services will be relocated to the new complex here on the 
grounds at Bethesda. The two hospitals will be merged into one central 
campus, which will be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical 
Center. At this new center, wounds will be healed, medical knowledge 
will be advanced, lives will be rebuilt. And those who wear our Nation's 
uniform will be reminded that they have the enduring gratitude of the 
American people.
    I thank all who serve Walter Reed and Bethesda. I love being with 
the healers and caregivers and incredibly compassionate people who makes 
our current facility successful and will make this new center a great 
success.

[[Page 944]]

    Congressman, thank you very much for joining us. I know you are 
proud that this new facility is in your congressional district. Thank 
you for working hard to see this vision become a reality.
    Lieutenant Governor, proud to be with you. This man wear the uniform 
of the United States military, and I'm proud to be with this veteran and 
now public servant for the State of Maryland.
    Members of the administration who are here, thank you all for 
coming. Chaplain York, thanks for the blessings. And all those who wear 
the uniform, thanks for sacrificing for the country.
    This morning, we gather in a place that was chosen by another 
President to be the site of a world-class naval hospital. When President 
Franklin Roosevelt dedicated Bethesda in the early years of World War 
II, he placed this facility on the frontlines of what he called the 
``battle against disease, disability, and death.'' The military surgeons 
and nurses, scientists and technicians, he said, ``are anonymous heroes 
of this war.''
    More than six decades later, our Nation is engaged in a very 
different battle for our freedom. Yet our success still relies on these 
``anonymous heroes,'' the healers who care for the troops, those troops 
who keep the American people safe. In this new war, giving our troops 
the care they deserve requires cutting-edge medical facilities. And that 
is what this new medical center will provide.
    When the construction is complete, this facility will encompass 345 
beds and 6.7 million square feet. It will join the resources of the 
Army, Navy, and Air Force, and make it easier for medical professionals 
in all three services to collaborate and care for the patients. Our 
troops and their families will no longer have to travel between Bethesda 
and Walter Reed to see multiple specialists. The new complex will also 
benefit from the good work of the Dole-Shalala Wounded Warriors 
Commission, which has issued recommendations for modernizing and 
improving our military health care system. Those recommendations will 
provide a strong foundation for effective, accountable care here at the 
new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
    This new medical center will be a place of healing. Every day, our 
military doctors and nurses and medical staff demonstrate their immense 
skill and their caring hearts. You soothe the pain and fear of patients. 
You console families who keep constant vigil over their loved ones. You 
share the joy of a neurology patient's first recovered words and an 
amputee's first steps. When required, you can show tough love, but you 
also like to remind patients that laughter is the best medicine. And we 
look forward to the day when the joy of recovery echoes through the 
halls of the new medical facility that will be built here.
    This new medical center will be a place of innovation. Major Walter 
Reed was the Army doctor who found that yellow fever is transmitted by 
mosquitoes, a discovery that has saved countless lives. The new 
institution bearing his name will continue his legacy of lifesaving 
research. Today, our Nation's military doctors are revolutionizing how 
we approach traumatic brain injuries, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and 
amputee care. In many fields, you are far ahead of civilian medicine. 
And when Bethesda and Walter Reed merge into one campus across from the 
National Institutes of Health, this will be the site of many more 
promising breakthroughs that will benefit not only our troops but all 
mankind.
    This new medical center will be a place of compassion. At Bethesda 
and Walter Reed, volunteers organize holiday celebration, poker nights, 
and field trips. They distribute care packages from thousands of 
Americans who want to show their gratitude for our troops. Recently, 
schoolchildren from New York made pillows for soldiers at Walter Reed 
and sent letters along with the gifts. The children wrote: ``[You are] 
everyone's hero.'' ``Thank you for fighting for our freedom.'' At this 
new center, the Americans who fight for our freedom will get the 
compassion and support they deserve.
    This new medical center will be a place of courage. Our wounded 
warriors show that while the human body is fragile, the human spirit is 
strong. Anybody who has met the wounded at Walter Reed and Bethesda 
cannot help but be incredibly impressed by the courage and sacrifice of 
our troops.

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    Recently, I saw this strength in a young Air Force Staff Sergeant 
named Scott Lilley. Scott was serving in Iraq when an IED left him with 
a severe brain injury. I think it was last Fourth of July that you came 
to the White House. Yes, I was one who felt like this guy had no chance. 
And yet, he--the doctors here used state-of-the-art technology and 
aggressive treatment to get Scott better. Their perseverance paid off, 
and so has his. I welcomed he and his mom and dad to the Oval Office the 
other day. He was more eloquent than I was, which isn't all that hard. 
[Laughter] He drives a car; he goes to baseball games; he loves to joke.

    His doctor calls Scott's recovery miraculous. And thanks to the 
extraordinary care he received at Bethesda as well his own extraordinary 
resolve, he is now back on active duty in the Air Force. And we are glad 
you're here.

    The greatest privilege of serving as President is to be the 
Commander in Chief of such an extraordinary group of men and women who 
wear our Nation's uniform. And I'm pleased to help start construction on 
the new hospital that will continue to provide the excellent care our 
troops deserve. It is fitting that this new facility be built in a place 
called Bethesda, which draws its name from the Biblical pool of healing. 
It is there that a lame man was made to walk and was dispatched with the 
words: ``Behold, thou art made whole.''

    I pray that this will be the site of many miracles of healing, where 
the lame will walk again, where broken bodies will be made whole, and 
where you'll always know that you're in our prayers and in the hearts of 
the American people.
    May God bless you, and may God continue to bless our country.

Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. at the National Naval Medical 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Representative Chris Van Hollen 
and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown of Maryland; Capt. Lorenzo York, USN, 
command chaplain, National Naval Medical Center; and former Senator Bob 
Dole and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala, 
Cochairs, President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded 
Warriors.