FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
A retired major general has high praise for the health care
he oversaw more than two decades ago.
“The care has been truly phenomenal,” said retired Maj. Gen.
William L. Moore Jr., who served as Brooke Army Medical Center’s commander from
1988 to 1991. “But this doesn’t surprise me; the quality of medical practice
here has always been excellent.”
Moore has been undergoing rehabilitation at the Center for
the Intrepid, BAMC’s outpatient rehabilitation facility, since June 2014 when a
fall at home resulted in an above-the-knee amputation of his left leg. Doctors
told him he’d never walk again, but he’s not only walking now, he’s navigating stairs
with the help of a prosthesis.
His wife, Sissy, stood by nervously as he descended the
stairs at the CFI, gripping his crutches tightly in one hand, shadowed closely
by his physical therapist technician.
“My husband is an overachiever,” she said. “He’s 81 years
old and still works out six times a week, then comes here for rehab. His
therapists were amazed at his initial progress.”
Moore’s penchant for achievement was passed down from his
father, he said. The son of a World War II first sergeant, Moore recalls his
dad waking him each morning with a loud “Off and on!”
From an early age, he aspired to be a service member like
his father, but placed those plans on hold to pursue his medical degree. He
became a general medicine doctor, got married and started a civilian practice
in Rome, Ga.
He didn’t shift gears until 1961, when he heard John F.
Kennedy’s inaugural address: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask
what you can do for your country.”
“I walked in the kitchen the next day and told my wife, ‘I’m
joining the Army,’” Moore recalled. He was commissioned Jan. 4, 1962.
The military took him around the world, but he always ended
back at Fort Sam
Houston, spending nearly half of his 33-year career in Texas.
His BAMC time dates back to 1965 when he was an internal
medicine resident, followed by an Army-sponsored fellowship in infectious
disease at Southwestern Medical School’s Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
Returning from Dallas
in the early 1970s, he started the infectious disease subspecialty program
while serving as BAMC’s assistant chief of medicine. After a short break in
service, Moore reported to duty at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center,
Fort Gordon, Ga., and from there moved to Germany to command Frankfurt Army
Regional Medical Center.
In 1986, former Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Quinn Becker
asked Moore to head up the Army HIV/Aids program in the surgeon general’s
office in Washington, D.C. Two years later, in November 1988, Moore – now a
brigadier general – took command of BAMC, which was headquartered on main post
at that time.
His former secretary, Carolyn Putnam, recalls Moore’s innate
drive clearly.
“He wanted to improve his musical skills, so he decided to
take piano lessons,” recalled Putnam, who is still serving as the BAMC
commander’s secretary. “His schedule was so busy he ended up taking lessons at
5:30 a.m. and still managed to arrive on time for morning report. His
persistence paid off and he plays beautifully.”
While he loves music, his primary passion is teaching
medicine, said Moore, who also served as commander of AMEDDC&S from 1991 to
1994.
“I always taught the importance of personal responsibility,
to care what’s happening with patients and to remain interested in the patient
as a human being, not a disease,” he said. “We should approach patients with a
genuine sense of concern for the holistic environment of the patient and his
family, always taking into account how the illness might have an impact on
their lives.”
Moore worked to incorporate those same principles at BAMC,
contributing to its longstanding reputation for quality care.
Moore retired in 1994 and has since seen BAMC evolve and
adopt new technology over the years but “the changes have been in bricks and
mortar, not in the people,” he said. “There’s still ample caring, compassion,
concern and outstanding professional knowledge of the medicine that’s practiced
here.”
His time at BAMC remains a bright spot in his career, he
said. “I had so much fun working here sometimes I wonder why I got paid for
it.”
From their first meeting, BAMC Command Sgt. Maj. Tabitha
Gavia was impressed at his devotion to health and fitness.
“He’s a living, breathing example of the Performance Triad,”
she said, referring to the Army Surgeon General’s initiative for activity,
nutrition and sleep. “When I’m his age, I want to be just as devoted to
wellness as General Moore.”
Now back at BAMC as a
patient, Moore said he hopes to inspire the service members, some bilateral or
triple amputees, recovering at the CFI alongside him. “I hope they look at me
and think, ‘If this old geezer can do it, I can too,’” he said with a laugh.
“The reality is, however much I inspire them, they inspire me more.”