The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently dedicated a new Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (PRC) at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) in San Antonio, Tex. The inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation center is designed to provide polytrauma care to veterans and active duty servicemembers. Polytrauma care encompasses traumatic brain injury (TBI), amputations, burns, fractures, hearing loss, and visual impairment.

According to the VA, this is its fifth polytrauma center (PRC) nationwide. Eric K. Shineski, secretary Veterans Affairs, voices the need for the center, “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,” Shineski says.

The PRC will work collaboratively with Brooke Army Medical Center, in Fort Sam Houston, Tex, The Center for the Inrepdid, also located in Fort Sam Houston, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Lackland AFB, Tex, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research also in Fort Sam Houston.

The PRC will be comprised of a total of 12 acute care polytrauma rehabilitation inpatient beds, physical medicine and rehabilitation services, outpatient polytrauma rehabilitation services, along with refurbished prosthetic, rehabilitation, and office space.

For more information about the PRC in San Antonio, contact the South Texas Veterans Health Care System Office of Public Affairs at (210) 617-5218, or email [email protected]

Source: Department of Veterans Affairs