New facility giving more to families

[unhappycamper]

New facility giving more to families
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, December 3, 2007

Now that Fort Sam Houston has its $50 million state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility for wounded warriors, the next project is a $4 million state-of-the-art facility for their families.

Base officials expect to complete a new 12,000-square-foot Warrior Family Support Center in August, giving them a new, spacious headquarters for injured troops’ families to seek counseling, receive aid or simply relax.

“In our center now I can put my arms out and grab anyone I need, because we’re so crowded,” said Judith Markelz, program manager for the family support facility.

“Now we’re going from 1,200 square feet to 10 times that. We’ll miss some of the coziness, but we’ll be gaining so much.”

The base already offers a wide range of resources for families of patients recovering at the Center for the Intrepid and Brooke Army Medical Center, most made possible because of community donations.

Officials already have a TV lounge for families to enjoy, complete with video games for troops’ children.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50681



uhc comment: This new $50,000,000 rehab complex represents about 2 hours of the cost of occupying Iraq.