The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) dedicated a new Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (PRC) at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio. The $66 million inpatient/outpatient rehabilitation center will treat veterans and active duty service members with multiple traumatic injuries.
Working closely with the Department of Defense, the state-of-the-art facility will treat physical, cognitive, psychological or psychosocial impairments, and functional disabilities. Types of care include amputations, traumatic brain injury, burns, fractures, hearing loss and visual impairment. According to a press release, the center will contain 12 acute care polytrauma rehabilitation inpatient beds, physical medicine and rehabilitation services, outpatient rehabilitation services, and refurbished prosthetic, rehabilitation and office space.
“Today, casualties survive catastrophic injuries that would have been lethal just a few years ago,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki, who gave the keynote address during the dedication event in San Antonio. “More of our wounded are surviving, and more of them are permanently disabled by devastating injuries. They had the will to survive. We owe them the rest of the journey home.”
The Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, the VA’s fifth in the country, will work in conjunction with Brooke Army Medical Center, The Center for the Intrepid, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research. Other facilities in the VA’s Polytrauma System of Care are located in Richmond, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Minneapolis.
