TEXAS — In South Texas, there is a place that is a pillar for so many military families.
Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio is the largest hospital in the Defense Health Agency, and this month, it’s celebrating 30 years of providing care in its modern facility.
BAMC is primarily where American soldiers injured abroad receive care. It also serves civilians across South Texas with emergency care.
Dr. Evan Renz said serving both communities is key to BAMC’s mission.
“Being able to take care of civilian emergency trauma on a daily basis here, we are able to maintain our skills so that should they be needed downrange in a theater of war, we are always ready,” Renz said.
The hospital opened in 1996 during the earliest days of America’s operations in Iraq, something Renz said helped define BAMC.
The trauma inside BAMC isn’t always easy to see, and that’s why Gary Sinise’s Invincible Spirit Concert and Festival comes to the hospital each year.
“Just to make sure that our men and women who are going through rehabilitation at the hospital know that we’re not going to forget about them,” Sinise said.
For Renz, who has worked at BAMC for 23 of its 30 years, the hospital’s story is only beginning.
“We are working to ensure that we are staying abreast of whatever has been shown through science to be the best possible treatment for any patient,” Renz said.