Parent Facility: Central Texas VA HCS (Temple VAMC)
              Phone: (254) 778-4811 or (800) 423-2111

The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) consists of two hospitals located in Temple and Waco; one stand-alone clinic in Austin; four community based outpatient clinics in Brownwood, Cedar Park, College Station and Palestine; two nursing homes in Temple and Waco; one domiciliary in Temple, a Blind Rehabilitation Unit in Waco and two patient, rehabilitation units for post-traumatic stress disorder and severely mentally ill life enhancement in Waco.

All facilities are VA staffed.  A fifth community based outpatient clinic located at the old Marlin VA Hospital was closed for emergency use during Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, and the hospital is in the process of being transferred to the State of Texas for use as a hospital for Texas Department of Corrections prisoners. 
 
CTVHCS includes one of the newest VA inpatient medical/surgical hospitals after opening in 1998 in Temple. CTVHCS is a major provider of health care for combat veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.   It has one of the largest inpatient psychiatric facilities in the country which was officially named a Mental Health Center of Excellence in 2006, after legislation passed by U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2005. 
 
The Olin E. Teague hospital in Temple is a tertiary care facility.  It is a teaching hospital, providing a full range of patient care services, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research.  Comprehensive health care is provided through primary care, tertiary care, and long-term care in areas of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, dentistry, geriatrics, and extended care.  The Temple campus also includes a 408-bed Domiciliary and a 160-bed State Veterans Home.  The Temple hospital is the only campus with an Emergency Room that operates around the clock.
 
The Waco hospital is a psychiatric facility which provides inpatient psychiatric care, nursing home care to psycho geriatric patients, and includes a Post Traumatic Residential Treatment Program (PRRTP).  It houses a 44-bed residential unit designed to treat veterans in the Serious Mental Illness Life Enhancement (SMILE) program, which offers rehabilitation and recovery services, including enhanced services for seriously mentally ill veterans with substance abuse problems.  The primary focus of this program is to improve the quality of life for veterans, promoting independence and recovery. 
 
Waco’s psychiatric mission consists of 64 intermediate and acute psychiatric beds.  In addition, the Waco facility has 140 beds to provide long term care to "psycho-geriatric" patients, who are defined as those patients with a psychiatric disorder who are age 65 or older.  Individuals older than age 50, who have chronic diseases resembling a geriatric process, are also considered for program placement.  The goal of the program is to discharge the veteran to the least restrictive setting. Waco also includes a Blind Rehabilitation Unit that started in 1974 and currently has 15 inpatient beds.  The program provides comprehensive rehabilitation services for legally blind veterans.  Aids and devices are issued to veterans to include mobility devices, low vision optical aids, communication equipment, and computers.
In addition to inpatient services, the Waco facility provides outpatient services for primary care, mental health and some outpatient specialty care services. 
 
Outpatient Clinics/Vet Centers include:
Olin E. Teague VA Medical Center – three outpatient teams
Waco VA Medical Center
Austin Outpatient Clinic
Brownwood CBOC
Bryan/College Station CBOC
Cedar Park CBOC
Palestine CBOC
Austin Vet Center
Killeen Heights Vet Center