At last, big changes come to Washington, DC, hospital

A year ago, Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, DC, was in a dilapidated building. The ceilings and floors of the top levels were waterlogged and bowed from untended roof leaks. There was no working radiology equipment, and at one point the institution was on the verge of running out of food for patients. But now the hospital's new owners have begun implementing changes to revive the once dilapidated building and business. The hospital is being revamped to meet the increasing need for long-term-care facilities for the city's aging and chronically sick. This month about 50 beds at the hospital, now called United Medical Center, will be set aside for what is known as long-term acute care.