Today, the San Antonio Congressional Delegation including Congressmen Charles Gonzalez (TX-20), Lamar Smith (TX-21), Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23) and Henry Cuellar (TX-28), announced over $41 million in federal funding contracts to make vital upgrades to the Audie L. Murphy VA Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Included in the funding is a $37.2 million construction contract to build the new veterans’ Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (PRC).

"This new and improved Medical Center will provide the quality health care our men and women in uniform need and deserve," said Congressman Gonzalez.  "I’m also pleased that with the expansion of this Center, many new jobs will be available in the region.  This is a win-win for San Antonio and our deserving veterans."  

Funding for the Polytrauma Center project was appropriated in 2007 and today the Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded Robins and Morton, of Birmingham, Alabama $37, 250,000 to build the new three-story 84,000 square foot PRC. The center will include a polytrauma ward, physical medicine and rehabilitation services, prosthetics services and polytrauma research and support programs. The duration of the contract is one year and nine months.

"When our wounded warriors return home to us, the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center will help them heal and restore their quality of life. This new facility will be a major asset for Audie Murphy and San Antonio’s military community," said Congressman Lamar Smith.

Over $4.2 million in federal funding will also complete the Ward 4A Upgrades/Expansion Project at Murphy VA Medical Center. The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded Strategic Perspectives Development, LLC, of San Antonio the $4,284,823 construction contract. The project consists of general construction, mechanical and electrical work, plus upgrades to the ward’s fire alarm and fire protection system.

"As our brave men and women continue to defend our freedoms here and abroad, we as a nation owe it to them to provide the best and most comprehensive healthcare we can. This Center will serve our Texas veterans by providing a broad range of immediate and long-term services, and I am very pleased to celebrate this funding with my Bexar County colleagues," said Congressman Ciro D. Rodriguez, who noted that this will be the fifth such polytrauma center in the nation, and the only one in the Texas region.

"These federal funds come at a critical time when our younger veterans are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The state of our nation’s veterans medical centers are a critical part of providing the care they need," said Congressman Henry Cuellar. "This new polytrauma center will give San Antonio the most cutting-edge care to meet our veterans’ needs and it will be a place of hope and healing for our veterans."

The Audie L. Murphy Medical Center is part of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System and has received the Vice-President's National Performance Review Office's Hammer Award for its unique development of sharing agreements and joint procurements with DoD, state, and private-sector facilities.

Last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs spent more than $7.8 billion in Texas on behalf of the state’s 1.7 million Veterans.  VA operates 11 major medical centers in the state, more than 40 outpatient clinics, 14 Vet Centers and six national cemeteries.
 
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