 The Miami VA Healthcare System has a long and colorful history. In 1942, the commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces directed that an officer candidate school be established to maintain an Air Force Replacement Training Center with facilities for medical services. The Floridian and Nautilus Hotels were used for this purpose. The Nautilus is considered to have been the first Veterans Administration hospital in the Greater Miami Area. The facilities of the Nautilus were soon inadequate for the number of troops stationed in the area and another Air Force Team was called in to inspect all hotels in South Florida. The famed Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables was selected and became an Army Hospital in 1946. It was renamed Pratt General Hospital in honor of one of the U.S. Army Air Forces’ pioneer flight surgeons.
Pratt General Hospital was deactivated in May 1947, but was taken over immediately by the Veterans Administration. The hospital, consisting of 450 general medical and surgical beds, was maintained until the completion and activation of the present Medical Center, located at 1201 NW 16th Street, in May 1968.
The Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center operates 432 hospital beds in intermediate care, medical services, neurology, mental health,rehabilitation medicine, spinal cord injury, and surgical services. Extended geriatric care is provided in our 4-story Community Living Center.
The Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center is located on 26.3 acres in the Miami Health District, which includes Jackson Memorial Hospital and the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics. The area’s growth has continued unabated since the opening of the hospital. To more readily serve the geographically dispersed veteran population, Outpatient Clinics were established in Oakland Park in 1982 and Key West in 1986. In September of 2008 the Broward County VA Outpatient Clininc replaced the Oakland Park VA Outpatient Clinic which has been serving our veterans for more than 26 years. Community Based Outpatient Clinics are also located in Pembroke Pines, Key Largo, Deerfield Beach and Hollywood. The Miami VA Healthcare System main campus and its satellite clinics generate over 760,000 visits per year.
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