Page 7 - Layout 1

MILITARY MILITARY
MEDICINE MEDICINE

Photography by Jason W. Edwards

World War 1 saw chored ourselves throughout the end of World War II, Korea and Viet-
the founding of nam,” said BAMC’s former commander, Col. (Dr.) Evan Renz, now
the Army Veteri- deputy to the commander for quality and safety. “So, you had three
nary Corps as an major historic wartime periods in our country that were linked to that
integral compo- base, that medical hub.”
nent of the Army BAMC eventually sprawled into 59 buildings, most adapted to the
Medical Depart- purpose rather than designed for it. Ground was broken for a new Med-
ment, continuing ical Center in 1987 and it was dedicated in 1996. Today it provides
to distinguish it- both inpatient and outpatient services to approximately 8,500 staff
self within the vet- members, including active-duty military personnel from each of our
BAMC and San Antonio: base, called Camp Travis, requiring a Base Hospital with more than employees and volunteers. The medical center provides safe, quality,
erinary profession. The First World War saw a 50,000 soldier-capacity
uniformed services, Public Health personnel, federal civilians, contract
4,000 beds. Spread over 61 buildings, 34 wards were joined by isolation
evidence-based care for up to 483 military and civilian inpatients. As
wards, a laboratory, operating room, medical detachment barracks, the sole verified Level I Trauma Center within the Department of De-
GROWING TOGETHER IN SERVICE nurses’ quarters, a chapel, kitchens and dining rooms to support nearly fense (DOD), BAMC simultaneously provides emergency services dur-
1,000 staff. Armistice Day heralded the absorption of Camp Travis by ing 80,000 Emergency Department visits annually and serves as the
Courtesy of the U.S. Army Fort Sam Houston. premier medical readiness training platform for both the Army and the
Air Force. BAMC providers also care for more than 4,000 patients each
By 1927, the Base Hospital was razed, clearing the way for the new
S an Antonio’s military medicine heritage began in 1803 when medical institution, Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC). Station Hospital, construction beginning in 1936 and completed the day during visits to its six separate outpatient clinics.
100 Spanish troops and their families converted the Alamo to a
BAMC is now the Department of Defense's largest facility and its
Prominent on the hospital campus, and surrounded by four Fisher
next year with a 418-bed capacity. The Station Hospital was upgraded
barracks and devoted the building’s second story to a military
the world. Its progress as a premier health care center is the story of
hospital — the first hospital in Texas. only Level 1 Trauma Center, healing sustained injuries anywhere in to a General Hospital after the outbreak of WWII, and in 1942 re- Houses, the four-story Center for the Intrepid (CFI) stands as a pre-
eminent extremity injury rehabilitation center. 40 of the hospital’s beds
named for Brigadier General Roger Brooke, commander of the Station
The U.S. Army first arrived in 1845 and the unit was accompanied America’s wartime involvements and the need to safeguard and heal Hospital from 1929-33. are designated for the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research (US-
by a surgeon who likely set up shop in a tent near the troops at the our warriors. Brooke General Hospital expanded during the war by converting AISR) Burn Center. The verified Burn Center serves alongside the
Alamo. The Confederacy also operated a hospital there, whereabouts The Spanish-American War (1898), led to the expansion of Fort Sam barracks to hospital wards, building a psychiatric ward in the Old Sta- Level I Trauma Center to provide emergency services for residents from
uncertain. But it wasn’t until 1870 that the first stand-alone hospital Houston to become a Brigade Post, Cavalry Post and Light Artillery tion Hospital area and eventually converting the 15th Field Artillery 22 separate counties in South Texas.
facility used by the U.S. Army was established south of Commerce Post − the largest Army post in the country. Supporting the increased Barracks into Annex IV, increasing capacity to 7,800 beds. The war BAMC facilities provide comprehensive care for nearly a quarter
Street in a large private residence across from where the River Center garrison, Station Hospital opened in 1908 with 84 beds. It was ex- demonstrated the critical nature of centralizing medical facilities. After million military beneficiaries living throughout the area. The old
stands today. San Antonio donated 92 acres north of Downtown in panded to 152 beds two years later and a few years after, an isolation its cessation, the Medical Field Service School relocated to San Antonio building bore an inscription, “Dedicated not to Us, but solely to the
1876, and the garrison set up a temporary clinic there, replaced by a ward and a maternity ward were added to Station Hospital. 1908 also and all the medical entities reorganized and designated BAMC. These Health of Mankind.” As a field leader in treatment of trauma, burn,
permanent medical facility on Staff Post Road. This 12-bed clinic was saw the opening of a Veterinary Hospital. The largest Army post, Fort changes ushered in the modern era of military medicine. PTSD and infectious diseases, the sign may be gone but the mission
the modest seed from which sprung the United States Army's premier Sam was a center for cavalry with more than 1,500 horses stationed. “I would say it was that medical center of gravity to which we an- is ever-present.

12 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • February 2022 Visit us at www.bcms.org 13