News & Updates
New Soldier and Family Assistance Center for Ft. Sam
It's one of the few places wounded troops and their families at Fort Sam Houston can go to forget about their worries.
But with more soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq with amputated limbs, brain injuries and burns, the 1,200-square-foot Warrior and Family Assistance Center, housed at Brooke Army Medical Center's Powless Guest House, has gotten cramped.
That's going to change. Developers announced plans Wednesday to build a new 10,000-square-foot assistance center across the street from the guest house that will cost an estimated $2.5 million. It will include kitchen, dining and living areas, a business center, game room and rambling porches.
Since it opened in late 2003, the center has had more than 150,000 visits. It offers meals, Internet access and support services, including trips to sports events, restaurants and festivals.
It was originally intended to be a temporary site. But the number of wounded troops and parents, spouses and children has escalated. Last year, it had 85,152 visits, more than three times the 26,485 in 2005.
"We don't have the room anymore," said Judith Markelz, the center's program manager, who's known as "Mom" to many, whether she's serving cookies or cajoling a burned soldier out of his barracks for a game of Scrabble.
Troops with post-traumatic stress don't deal well with crowds at the center, she said.
"There's got to be a place for people who can't cope with the frenetic energy," Markelz said.
Chaplains often must counsel the wounded in a corner or hallway, she said. The new building will have private counseling rooms and a computer learning area where troops and spouses can earn college credits online, especially if they're trying to transition to a civilian career.
Leading the project, called the Returning Heroes Home, are brothers Steve and Les Huffman, owner of Huffman Developments, a construction firm. After visiting the center a few months ago, they vowed to build a new one, forgoing overhead expenses and other costs, and to run a grass-roots fund drive.
Steve Huffman, the firm's president, said San Antonians have wanted to donate money for the wounded since the Jan. 29 dedication of the Center for the Intrepid at BAMC. Although Americans donated $50 million to fund the rehab center, many San Antonians weren't aware of the Intrepid project, he told the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board.
Huffman said the facility will likely open in the fall of 2008.
"We want to go to schools and ask kids to donate 25 cents or 50 cents," he said. "Our goal is to give San Antonio an opportunity to respond."
BAMC has treated more than 3,000 troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan — more than one-fourth of the war wounded — and has become a focal point for treatment and rehabilitation. The 450-bed hospital could expand to up to 653 beds, and can house more than 1,350 others, receiving outpatient care or rehab, near BAMC or other areas of Fort Sam Houston.
Spc. James King, who was airlifted from Iraq with spinal and circulatory problems, lives in one of BAMC's Fisher Houses with his wife and three children. The "S-FAC," as the support center is known in Army vernacular, is an oasis, where patients and their families can relax, munch on snacks, watch television, play games and share their experiences and hardships.
"If it wasn't for the S-FAC, we'd have no place to go but the barracks, the hospital and the Intrepid Center, and we'd just stagnate," said King, 50, of Malvern, Ark. "With all that's happened at Walter Reed, BAMC is now the primary place where the wounded are going, and we need that kind of space."
shuddleston@express-news.net
