New amputee rehab center to open at Reed

[unhappycamper]

New amputee rehab center to open at Reed
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 12, 2007 5:49:07 EDT


War veterans who have lost a limb will relearn tasks like shooting a weapon, driving a car or rappelling down a cliff at a new rehabilitation center opening at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The 31,000-square-foot facility will offer state-of-the art physical therapy and occupational therapy, sports programs, virtual reality systems and training with prosthetics to help troops regain a range of abilities, said Walter Reed spokeswoman Lori Calvillo.

It opens Thursday at the Army’s hospital in northwest Washington, which has treated some 500 vets who have lost limbs or function of a limb in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Called the Military Advanced Training Center for Soldier Amputees, it is for outpatients — troops who have already completed initial rehab for their wounds while in the Walter Reed hospital.

“It’s for advanced treatment — not just the person who’s learning to walk again, but the person who wants to run, getting back to whatever they want to be,” Calvillo said of the new facility.

Walter Reed is the flagship hospital of the Army’s system of medical facilities. It has treated 501 of the 681 amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns that have been treated in Army medical centers, though some received treatment at more than one location over time, the Army said.


Rest of artilce at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_amputeerehab_070912/


uhc comment: ". . . 681 amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns that have been treated in Army medical centers. . ." 681 amputees in 5 or 6 years of perpetual war and occupation? That seems a bit low.