VA Palo Alto Health Care System

A VA Polytrauma Center

“Rebuilding Wounded Lives”

Goal: To Support the Families of Our Returning Service Members who were Injured in Iraq and Afghanistan

VA Palo Alto Health Care System – Rebuilding Injured Lives

While serving in Iraqi and Afghanistan, military service members are sustaining multiple severe injuries as a result of explosions and blasts. Improvised explosive devices, blasts, landmines and fragments account for 65% of combat injuries. Of these injured military personnel, 60%-62% have some degree for traumatic brain injury.

Congress recognized this newly emerging pattern of military injuries and VA responded by establishing four Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers in April 2005, one of which is at the VA in Palo Alto. The other three are located at Minneapolis, MN; Richmond, VA, and Tampa, FL.

Our lytrauma Rehabilitation Center provides both inpatient and outpatient services in specialized rehabilitation programs including: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, blind rehabilitation and post traumatic stress disorder.

Over 16,000 soldiers and Marines have been wounded in combat in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Facilities in Palo Alto provide mission critical treatment for returning wounded soldiers, sailors and Marines.  Treatment is arduous and rehabilitation agonizing.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that having someone you love seriously injured is traumatic for the families too and the last thing they need to be worried about is how to pay for a hotel bill.  Families often travel thousands of miles from their homes to Palo Alto to visit these severely injured service members, only to find they have no where to stay.

Unfortunately, VA does not have statutory authority to provide funding or accommodations for parents, spouses or children.  Our new Fisher House, which is currently being built, will meet that need to a large degree.  However, between now and spring when the house is scheduled to be completed, VA Palo Alto relies on donations from the Bay Area community and veteran service organizations to help us offset these costs for the families.

For example, there are eight children in Lance Corporal Angel Gomez’ family.  At 19, he was severely wounded by a shotgun blast to the head outside of Baghdad.  His family, who came from Mexico, have been at his side since his injury.  Through donations we have been able to pay for an apartment where they can live nearby.

Target Population

VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s highly specialized programs, are also regional referral centers, which means that Palo Alto receives patients from the entire West Coast and as far away as Texas. 

VA Palo Alto also has one of VA's four traumatic brain injury units in the United States. At any one time there are up to 22 patients who are undergoing extensive rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury, or BI, a wound that occurs in more than 60% of veterans who incurred impact injuries in Iraq.  These servicemen and women come to the VA after receiving their acute care at Walter Reed, Bethesda or other DoD medical facilities.  At VA Palo Alto, they spend hard months in rehabilitation, fighting daily to get their lives back.  “Nightline” recently devoted an entire program to a soldier and a Marine injured in Iraq suffering from TBI and being treated at VA Palo Alto. 

Other patients include, Raymond Warren, a 22-year old Marine.  He was hit by a grenade and still has shrapnel in his brain that cannot be removed.  Doctors were forced to remove part of his skull until the swelling in his brain subsided, and hopefully in a second surgery in December they will be able to complete what is needed.  Meanwhile, Cpl. Warren wears a helmet and is making remarkable progress.  Jason Poole, 21, was hit by an improvised explosive and lost a portion of his face and skull.  He is blind in one eye and struggles even to walk and talk.  He’s a remarkable young man, and his positive attitude is inspiring to the other service members, as well as staff. 

Gunnery Sergeant Kenneth Sargent was blinded and also lost a portion of his skull.  His wife, Tonia Sargent, is a wonderful woman who is doing everything she can to bring awareness to the community that there is a need for support for the families of these troops.  Many of the families, like herself, live far from Palo Alto and do not have the money to stay in local hotels.

Often these injured service members arrive at Palo Alto unable to walk, talk or even perform basic bodily functions.  The dedicated team of therapists, doctors, nurses and other caregivers, in conjunction with the amazing attitudes of the men themselves, perform daily miracles.  Help with hotel and transportation costs will go far to remove.  We encourage you to make this a top priority and we want you to know that we’re fully committed to doing everything we can to help make this goal a reality.

For more information, visit the VA Hospital website.

Below, Jean Gurga gives a Driver's Training lesson