The Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System announced during a virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday its plans to move forward with the relocation of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Recovery Program and Women's Trauma Recovery Center.
As Central Texas News Now reported in January, the VA is proposing to move the PTSD program to Temple and the Women's Trauma Recovery Center to Waco. Officials said this will allow them to treat veterans with PTSD and substance abuse disorders at the same time. In addition, they say the relocation of the Women's Trauma Recovery Center would allow the Central Texas VA to establish its first Women's Veterans Residential Rehabilitation Program.
On Wednesday, virtual town hall nearly 1,300 veterans participated, many of which suffered from PTSD or had participated in the programs that will move locations.
"The women's trauma recovery unit and the PTSD program service our entire healthcare system and not just the cities that they're currently located in. I wanted to be certain that veterans in Temple, veterans in Waco, veterans in Austin, our biggest population had an opportunity to hear this and understand it's going to impact them," Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System Chief Executive Officer Christopher Sandles said.
During the call, VA officials said nearly 75 percent of nearly 760 people surveyed during the call were supportive of the move. Right now, the VA doesn't have a set date of when the move will happen.
At the event, veterans also had a chance to voice concerns about the healthcare system. Several of them mentioned they had concerns about wait times to see primary care doctors.
Sandles said the system is seeing a growing number of patients in Temple and Austin.
"We are doing everything we can as a healthcare system to prepare for it. This is why some of this new clinics have been awarded and why we are actively hiring new providers to be certain that we can [serve] veterans entirely," Sandles said.
He said a new clinic is expected to be built in Cedar Park. Additional construction projects include a $10 million renovation of the nursing home at the Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, renovation of the outpatient clinic in Bryan-College Station and a parking garage in Temple.
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