The Washington Post this weekend published an obituary on retired Army Col. John J. Madigan III.

Local folks might recognize that last name...

Officials at Madigan Army Medical Center hope to break ground soon on a center specializing in women’s and children’s medicine, the largest expansion of the Fort Lewis hospital since 1992.

The $205 million facility would be the first of its kind in the military and one of just a few such centers that would focus on care for both women and children anywhere in the United States, the chairman of Madigan's obstetrics and gynecology department said this week.

"The No. 1 business at (Department of Defense) hospitals is deliveries and all the care related to that," Col. Peter Nielsen said. "So the idea of putting in what place what women need and what children need – I thought it just made sense."

The new facility would measure about 140,000 square feet cost $205 million. It would provide an array of services, including obstetrics, women’s oncology, gynecology, breast disease, infertility, endocrinology, a neonatal intensive care unit and child psychiatry.

And by moving some services to the new building, it would create about 70,000 square feet of floor space in the main hospital, said Michael Carico, Madigan’s chief of operation and maintenance.

The new building – the largest addition to Madigan since the new hospital building opened in 1992 – is still several years away. Pentagon officials are still finalizing the 2010 fiscal year budget; included in it is a $2 million earmark U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., added to fund the planning and design.

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Fort Lewis will break ground next year on a $110 million complex for the Warrior Transition Battalion as part of the Army’s push to better healthcare for soldiers recovering from injuries.

The facility, which includes barracks, a headquarters building and a soldier and family assistance center, should open in about three years. The building will be erected on an eight-acre site near Madigan Army Medical Center; the battalion’s executive officer said the goal of the new complex is to put everything a wounded soldier needs within walking distance.

"We want to make it a bit of a one-stop shop," Maj. Edward Ekstrom said last week. "A soldier can wake up in the barracks, go to formation nearby, head to Madigan for treatment and go to the (assistance center) to take care of whatever they need, all a few minutes from each other."

Lawmakers provided $488 million for nine warrior transition unit complexes in last month’s supplemental war funding bill. Defense officials project Fort Lewis will be home to the largest warrior transition unit in the military, Ekstrom said.

The Army-wide Warrior Transition initiative was born from the poor medical conditions revealed at Walter Reed Medical Center in early 2007. As the scandal rippled across the country, soldiers at the old "medical hold" companies at Madigan Army Medical Center complained of mistreatment, confusion and delays.

In the newly created units, soldiers moved into refurbished barracks and were assigned a primary care specialist, a nurse case-manager and a squad leader to make sure they get proper treatment. The soldier and family assistance center helps soldiers with an array of military- and civilian-related issues, ranging from veterans claims to day care to online college courses.

The construction plans call for 408 beds inside the complex barracks, about equal to the number of troops in the unit today. That number tends to fluctuate and is almost certain to rise with three Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigades deploying this year to Iraq or Afghanistan.

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Madigan Army Medical Center was named one of the top 100 “most-wired” hospitals in the country. It’s the fifth time in six years the hospital has received the honor.

Press release below:

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Lt. Col. Danny Dudek paced the dew-covered grass of Fort Lewis’ Watkins Field, inspecting his troops during a ceremony marking a change of command for his unit.

The sight of an officer marching past with the aid of hand crutches was not lost on the hundreds of wounded and injured soldiers of the Warrior Transition Battalion whom Dudek now commands.

"The Army has to make a deliberate decision to let a paralyzed lieutenant colonel command a battalion," the 40-year-old said. "That doesn’t happen often."

Dudek, previously the battalion’s executive officer, took command from Lt. Col. K.C. Bolton on Wednesday morning. Dudek now is responsible for about 600 soldiers with long-term or complex medical issues, one of 39 such units across the military.

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Madigan Army Medical Center will receive a new commander in August as the Army divides the duties of running the hospital and its regional command.

Col. Jerome Penner III, currently commanding U.S. Army Medical Department Activity in Fort Drum, N.Y., will take command Aug. 13. Madigan’s current commander, Maj. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, will remain at Fort Lewis as commander of the Western Regional Medical Command, which oversees Army medical facilities across seven states.

“The Army decided it’s going to try to split away from Gen. Horoho’s current double-hatted position,” Madigan spokesman Jay Ebbeson said Monday.

The Medical Department Activity at Fort Drum provides health services to more than 43,000 people across nine states. Penner previously deployed to Iraq as deputy commander of a medical task force in Baghdad, according to an online biography.

Horoho has commanded both the hospital and the medical region command since arriving at Fort Lewis in July. Horoho is also chief of the Army Nurse Corps, a position she will continue to hold.

A few local troops made it into the news this weekend:

The Columbia of Vancouver offers a nice feature on an Army Reserve captain who's a nurse with the 396th Combat Support Hospital.

And DVIDS, where many stories written by public affairs officials are posted, offers a few stories:

Soldiers Hear Message, Address Important Issues to Senior Leader [I Corps]
Highlander Combat Medics and Balad Airmen Deliver Medical Aid to Balad Iraqis [81st Brigade Combat Team]
Medical Treatment at Fort Polk [4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division]
4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Offload at Rail Head Station

The middle-of-the-night phone calls from deployed parents, a new school almost every year and making friends at the parent's new duty station can be difficult for the children of service members.

Multiple deployments don't make the sting of a missing parent any easier, and counselors at some schools just can't understand what military kids are going through, a panel of 10 children told a gathering of about 200 health-care professionals Thursday.

The discussion was part of the Military Child and Adolescent Summit, a three-day meeting at Tacoma's Hotel Murano of military and civilian health-care officials whose care focuses on children of service members.

The children, ranging from 5 to 16 years old, spoke about life with a parent in the service. Here are some selected questions and answers from the hourlong discussion:

Q: What's it like to be a kid when a parent deploys?

Tiana Douglas, an 11-year-old Navy daughter from Spanaway: "It's hard and it's not cool. I don't like it because (others) don't really understand what it's like to have your parents go."

Bria White, a 15-year-old Army daughter from Puyallup: "You get really sad and start missing your parents. It's hard just talking to them on the phone and not being able to see them or hug them."

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Madigan Army Medical Center hosts its second-annual Military Child and Adolescent Summit later this week at a hotel in downtown Tacoma.

This year’s theme is "Frontline Responders: Coming Together for Our Military Youth" and will bring together military and civilian professionals to "learn, have dialogue and build connections." The event runs tomorrow through Friday at the Hotel Murano.

From the release: "Military and civilian health care professionals will address a variety of topics that directly relate to the unique needs of military children and adolescents, existing and emerging research on the effects of parental deployment, School Based Mental Health Models, and much more."

I’m planning on being there Thursday for a panel discussion with military dependents aged 4 to 17. Susan Dreyfus, secretary of the State Department of Social and Health Services, and Maj. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the commander of Madigan, will also deliver speeches that day.

Madigan Army Medical Center opened an eight-bed specialty care unit Wednesday, the next step of a $1 million project to reduce referrals to outside hospitals and time spent in intensive care units.

Te new eight-bed unit contains a pediatric intensive care unit and an adult progressive care unit. The pediatric ICU is designed to provide critical-care services to children. The progressive care unit is for adults who require critical-care nursing but don’t quite need a stay in an intensive care unit because their injury or illness has stabilized.

The cost to get the unit started – including new equipment, facility renovations and additional staff – cost almost $1 million. It’s expected to treat several hundred patients each year.

As cars jammed during lunchtime in Lakewood’s Tillicum neighborhood, Susan Hoppler walked down Berkeley Avenue and caught passengers’ attention. Many rolled down the car window and took a leaflet from the Federal Way resident.

Its contents weren’t pretty: A photo of hands wearing surgical gloves cutting into an animal. It’s tough to determine what animal it is because much of the picture is filled with a large, open wound. "Stop military trauma tests on animals," it says.

"I’m a normal person. I’m not some wacko," said Hoppler, a 46-year-old former veterinary technician. "But this is important to me."

Hoppler was one of eight people organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to protest the Army’s use of animals to train medics on trauma response. The organization is protesting at Fort Lewis and 16 other military installations across the country.

PETA targeted Fort Lewis over its use of goats to train medics in trauma response. During some practices, parts of the animals’ limbs were amputated under anesthesia to teach the proper application of a tourniquet.

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The folks at Madigan Army Medical Center are recognizing Women’s Health Care Week in several different ways.

Read on:

Madigan Celebrates Women’s Health Care Week

Madigan Army Medical Center will observe National Women's Health Care Week May 10-16. The theme for this year's campaign is, "It's Your Time!" This observance is an opportunity for Madigan to raise awareness of important health issues that affect women, such as heart disease, the No. 1 killer of American women.

Traditionally, women’s health issues have been limited to childbirth and reproductive health rather than encompassing a broader range of health issues. This week’s events are aimed at empowering women to make their health a top priority and reminding them that taking care of themselves is essential to living longer, healthier, and happier lives.

During the entire week of May 10-16 there will be a Static Display on the ground floor of the medical mall, and on May 14-15 there will be a variety of Information Tables, manned by various providers of Women's Health. Those Subject Matter Experts will be periodically manning the tables and answering patient and staff questions regarding: Midwifery, diabetes, health and nutrition, heart disease, breast health/risk factors, obstetrics and gynecology, and more.