Dr. Fred Foote is bringing a new style of medicine to an old-school organization — the U.S. military. As Dr. Fred Foote winds his gray Honda Civic up 10 floors of concrete, the normally Zen Navy physician allows himself a moment to gripe. “I hate parking garages,” the 67-year-old recent retiree says. “I want to paint them all with murals of whales and stuff.” So far, the military hasn’t approved his request. But the unaesthetic journey to the top of the parking garage is a necessary evil to get an aerial view of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the flagship military hospital where Uncle Sam’s latest medical advances are workshopped before being adopted by dozens of hospitals serving roughly 9 million soldiers and veterans nationwide. From here, Foote can point out the fruits of his efforts. The gleaming hospital buildings, barely a decade old, use evidence-based architecture, such as single-patient rooms, to improve health outcomes. When families are allowed to live with the patients and help determine their medical care, you cut mortality in half, Foote says, so whole suites, including laundry services and kitchens, have been built to accommodate them. There is an integrated care center, where doctors work as a team rather than focusing only on their organ of expertise. Below is a path winding through a forest, dubbed the military’s first “healing green space” project. Even acupuncture is being taught to combat nurses. “They slap needles on troops in Afghanistan now,” Foote says. |