{"id":239855,"date":"2026-04-08T04:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/239855\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:48:07","slug":"1-year-after-veterans-suicide-outside-va-hospital-advocate-calls-for-answers-on-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/239855\/","title":{"rendered":"1 year after veteran\u2019s suicide outside VA hospital, advocate calls for answers on resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A San Antonio advocate is raising questions about current access to care for veterans, one day after KSAT reported President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed 2027 federal budget<\/a> includes $30 million to buy land for a new veteran medical center in the city.<\/p>\n

Larissa Martinez, founder and executive director of Circle of Arms<\/a>, said she welcomes the proposed investment, but still has concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny investment in our veteran community population is 100% needed,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cBut what are we doing now for our current veterans?\u201d<\/p>\n

The $30 million would be for the land acquisition of a new medical center site. If approved, a new center would replace the current<\/a> Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital.<\/p>\n

The potential acquisition is described as \u201ca necessary first step to address the growing veteran population in that area (San Antonio)\u201d in the proposed budget.<\/p>\n

The proposal comes less than a month after San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, in conjunction with Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs expressing support for a new Veterans Affairs<\/a> (VA) medical center in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

But KSAT has been covering concerns about access to care for even longer. <\/p>\n

Tuesday marks one year since Mark Miller<\/a> died by suicide outside Audie Murphy. He was a well-decorated U.S. Navy veteran. <\/p>\n

Eight months later, Enrique Ramos<\/a> also died by suicide there. He was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. <\/p>\n

Circle of Arms led a protest in December 2025<\/a> in response to their deaths, calling for help from local, state and federal leaders. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus does need to be on crisis,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cInvesting in veterans is always going to matter.\u201d <\/p>\n

Since this is just a funding proposal<\/a> that would still need to be approved by Congress, no timeline has been set for when this possible new medical center could be built. <\/p>\n

If you or someone you know<\/a> is struggling with mental health or thoughts of suicide, call 988 or text TALK to 741-741.<\/p>\n

You can also reach out to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention<\/a> (AFSP) or the National Alliance of Mental Illness<\/a> (NAMI) at 210-223-7233 (SAFE) or 800-316-9241. You can also text NAMI to 741-741.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A San Antonio advocate is raising questions about current access to care for veterans, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2125,2672,82,84,83,5018,51314],"class_list":["post-239855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-mental-health","tag-military","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-veterans-affairs","tag-we-follow-through"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}