FOB Tacoma » Madigan Army Medical Center

Injured JBLM soldier wins two medals at Warrior Games

Adam Ashton — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:55:24 +0000

An injured soldier from Castle Rock met one of his last goals as he prepares to leave the Army when he cleaned up at the Warrior Games this month, earning two medals in the annual athletic competition for veterans.

Sgt. Josh Andrew, 26, won a gold medal for the shot put and a silver for his discus throw.

He’s assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Warrior Transition Battalion, where he is receiving treatment for repeated knee injuries he sustained on deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for concussions he suffered from explosions in combat.

Andrew plans to …

JBLM’s new chief of warrior transitions brings a background in medical evacuations

Adam Ashton — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 01:40:09 +0000

The Army tapped a veteran helicopter pilot from Oregon with deep experience in medical evacuations to be the newest leader of a unit that cares for ill and injured soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Lt. Col. Jeffery Mosso is the fourth commanding officer of the base’s Warrior Transition Battalion, a unit created in 2007 to care for troops in a vulnerable period in their careers when they could either leave the service or return to duty.

Mosso’s commander, Col. Dallas Homas, said the job has a “noble mission.”

“For many of your soldiers, you will help carry them through one …

Madigan reaching out to Thurston County military families with new clinic in Olympia

Adam Ashton — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:48:12 +0000

A new Madigan Army Medical Center clinic is opening this week in Olympia to give military families in Thurston County easier access to their health care.

The clinic is intended to serve about 8,000 patients. Madigan opened a similar clinic in Puyallup last year that has enrolled 6,500 patients.

“We’re excited to be able to expand the quality health care our families currently receive at Madigan to these nearby clinics,” said Madigan commander Col. Dallas Homas.

The community clinics take some of the daily traffic out of Madigan’s main hospital at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which is typically …

Army releases investigation into Madigan PTSD complaints. Read excerpts and full report here

Adam Ashton — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:33:51 +0000

A 100-page Army investigation into patient complaints at MadiganArmyMedicalCenter reveals a hospital under siege a year ago, where “tearful” discussions about doctors allegedly misdiagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder took place under the scrutiny of Congress and the Pentagon.

It concludes in part the hospital commander who temporarily lost his job because of the investigation never meddled with PTSD diagnoses, and that the whistleblowers who drew attention to the hospital were misinformed in their criticism.

The report emphatically backs Madigan commander Col. Dallas Homas, and supports the way the hospital carried out forensic psychiatric evaluations before its doctors were accused of “reversing” …

Army report stemming from Madigan complaints recommends overhaul of psychiatric programs

Adam Ashton — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:26:06 +0000

The Army did not find a systemic bias against diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder in a deep review of its psychiatric programs that was prompted by complaints about doctors at MadiganArmyMedicalCenter.

In fact, the review of nearly 150,000 cases since the start of the war in Afghanistan shows doctors were as likely to upgrade diagnoses to PTSD from less serious, less expensive conditions as they were to “reverse” them for soldiers seeking medical retirements.

The Army launched the investigation last year amid complaints that Madigan doctors were downgrading PTSD diagnoses to save the Army money …

Update: Forced budget cuts already impacting training at JBLM; DOD civilians preparing for pay cuts

Adam Ashton — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:30:24 +0000

4:30 p.m. update: Tightening constraints on federal spending are already taking a bite out of military training exercises for Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers, the base’s senior Army officer said today.

The Army has cancelled two rotations for Lewis-McChord soldiers to the National Training Center, a southern California base where units demonstrate that they are ready for deployments, Lt. Gen. Robert Brown said.

Brown said the Army also is scaling back its use of the Yakima Training Center in central Washington. That high desert expanse is prime training territory for the Army because units can fire heavy weapons with fewer considerations …

Army endorses once-suspended Madigan leader with extended command assignment

Adam Ashton — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:11:44 +0000

The Army is giving Col. Dallas Homas an extra five months to command Madigan Army Medical Center, extending an assignment that was interrupted last year by an investigation into misdiagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder at the hospital.

Homas will remain at the hospital through the end of the summer, the Army announced this week. He took command in March 2011 and assignments leading the hospital typically last two years.

“This is wonderful news for Madigan Army Medical Center and all its beneficiaries,” said Maj. Gen. Richard Thomas, Homas’ commander at the Army’s Western Regional Medical Command. “Col. Homas is a …

Madigan PTSD investigations remain in the dark as Army denies FOIA requests and Army Secretary declines to detail results

Adam Ashton — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:38:20 +0000

Secretary of the Army John McHugh’s visit to Joint Base Lewis-McChord left many reporters with more questions than answers about the Army’s efforts to improve its behavioral health services.

His press conference generated frustration among reporters who left without knowing what to produce. I had a front page space to fill, and I chose to highlight a resiliency program he announced even though it was unclear to me how it was different from similar efforts I have covered.

Keith Eldridge from KOMO produced a story that essentially said the Secretary of the Army came to …

Secretary of the Army coming to JBLM to announce results of behavioral health investigation

Adam Ashton — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:59:17 +0000

Secretary of the Army John McHugh plans to visit Joint Base Lewis-McChord Monday to announce the results of a service-wide investigation into behavioral health programs and to meet with Stryker soldiers recently home from Afghanistan.

McHugh last visited Lewis-McChord in April when he announced that the Army would create a new division headquarters at the base to provide better oversight of its main combat brigades.

That headquarters, the 7^th Infantry Division, opened in October under Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza. It is hosting McHugh’s visit next week and it now supervises more than 17,000 soldiers in five Army brigades.

Patient complaints …

Sen. Murray nudges Panetta to speed up Pentagon review of PTSD diagnoses

Adam Ashton — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 23:46:48 +0000

Sen. Patty Murray today nudged Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to provide more information about what resulted from his call for a military-wide review of post-traumatic stress diagnoses.

Panetta called for that review in the wake of a controversy last winter at Madigan Army Medical Center in which veterans complained that a forensic psychiatry team at the hospital changed their post-traumatic stress diagnoses in such a way that soldiers received fewer disability benefits. Some veterans feared the hospital was changing diagnoses to save money.

The Army has since reviewed hundreds of cases of soldiers who passed through Madigan, revising some diagnoses to post-traumatic …