It’s hard to keep track of San Antonio’s many “only,” “first” and “no where else” designations. These include the world-renowned burn unit at Brooke Army Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of only six sites in the country that is federally approved to test new cancer drugs for patients.

The health care industry can also lay claim to being a major contributor to San Antonio’s economy. The industry makes a $12.9 billion impact on the city’s economy, according to the most recent Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce analysis. The health care industry employed more than 103,000 people, or 14.5 percent of the local work force, in 2003. Total 2003 payroll for San Antonio area residents employed in health or bioscience fields was $3.9 billion.

Few cities in the nation offer the depth and breadth of health care options that San Antonio does.

Public Health Services
The Metropolitan Health District
(210) 207-8780
www.sanantonio.gov/health
The Health District is responsible for public health in San Antonio and unincorporated Bexar County. Under its auspices, 22 clinics located around the city provide health services, maternity and well-baby care, family planning, pediatric health care, immunizations, and dental services. The district operates the city’s rabies-control program and animal-control facility and is also responsible for communicable disease and environmental health activities.

Community Mental Health Services
Center for Healthcare Services
(210) 731-1300
www.center-for-healthcare.org
The Center for Healthcare Services operates substance abuse, mental retardation, mental health and residential programs. Referrals are taken Monday through Friday; for emergency referral after 5:30 p.m. on weekends and holidays, call the crisis line at (210) 227-4357.

Mental Health Association
of Greater San Antonio
(210) 614-7566
www.mhatexas.org
The Mental Health Association in Texas (MHAT) is a statewide organization working to promote mental health, to prevent mental illness through research and education, to improve care and treatment for people with mental illness, and to advocate for the rights of persons with mental illness through public policy. MHAT is a private, nonprofit organization whose activities involve advocacy on behalf of people with mental illness, information and referral services, and direct services to clients through its grant-funded programs. It also provides specific information for parents online at www.parentinginformation.org.

Southwest Mental Health Center
(210) 616-0300
www.smhc.org
This private, not-for-profit mental health organization provides innovative programs tailored to the needs of families, individuals and the community. Southwest Mental Health Center (SMHC) helps children, adolescents and families overcome the disabling effects of mental illness and improves their ability to function at home, at school and in the community. Promoting high standards for professional integrity, SMHC is a primary training site for many institutions: the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Trinity University, Our Lady of the Lake University, Worden School of Social Services, and several other universities. SMHC maintains an active research program and a speakers bureau and provides community education.

The Child Guidance Center
of San Antonio
(210) 614-7070
www.cgcsanantonio.org
The Child Guidance Center of San Antonio (CGC) is a private, not-for-profit, outpatient mental health facility for children, adolescents and their families. CGC is affiliated with both the United Way and the University of Texas Health Science Center. The CGC has been serving concerned families since 1956. Fees are on a sliding scale and are based on level of family income. The CGC is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and clinical social workers.

Directory of Community Services
United Way
(210) 352-7000
www.unitedwaysatx.org
United Way’s Community Assistance Directory is San Antonio’s most comprehensive guide to human services. It describes over 1,600 programs from 341 nonprofit, volunteer and tax-supported organizations operating in health, social welfare, education and related fields throughout Bexar County. The directory also includes over 155 agencies in 11 surrounding counties as well as a listing of out-of-state toll-free hotlines. The directory can be purchased at the United Way office or can be ordered by mail. Cost: $80.

Doctor and Dentist Referrals
Contact the medical and dental societies below for physician and dentist information.

Bexar County Medical Society
(210) 301-4391
www.bcms.org

San Antonio District Dental Society
(210) 732-1264
sadds@texas.net

Emergency Medical Service

In case of emergency, dial 911: this summons police, fire departments and ambulance service in metropolitan San Antonio.

San Antonio and Bexar County’s paramedic-equipped ambulance service can be reached by dialing 911; EMS operates 21 emergency vehicles and has more than 268 trained paramedics who can respond to any emergency. The medics can administer life-saving therapy and transport patients to emergency facilities. EMS operates under the auspices of the City of San Antonio.

Military Health Care
San Antonio is also a national center for military medicine. The Army’s Medical command, Great Plains Regional Medical Command and Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) are here, as is the Air Force’s Wilford Hall Medical Center. Both hospitals operate Level I trauma centers and serve as teaching hospitals, training both military and civilian physicians as well as other health professionals.

BAMC offers a wide range of services and programs. It hosts the Army’s world-renowned burn center, operated by the Army Institute of Surgical Research and recognized as a center of excellence for amputee care. BAMC also deploys regional SMART Teams focused on burn, decontamination, weapons of mass destruction, behavioral medicine, telemedicine and emergency medicine. BAMC is recognized as having one of the best national ophthalmology graduate medical programs and physical therapy doctoral programs (Rose Award). The Department of Clinical Investigation supervises 500 research protocols involving burn, trauma and battlefield medicine. BAMC is a regional referral center for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) patients.

Wilford Hall operates the only pro-grams in the Department of Defense for liver transplants and allogeneic bone marrow transplants. The center also runs a military eye bank and is one of 11 centers desig-nated for AIDS research by the National Institutes of Health.

The South Texas Veterans Healthcare System has an active ambulatory care program that provides primary level services to veterans throughout south Texas. It also -supports a 120-bed nursing home and a 30-bed spinal cord injury center.

Research and Training Facilities
San Antonio has a reputation as the regional hub for medical care in South Texas, but what many don’t know is that it’s also a growing center for bioscience research and innovation. Some of the development of eight of the last 11 cancer-fighting drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took place in San Antonio labs.
Some of the major research facilities include:

The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) — This sprawling, not-for-profit entity has two treatment facilities in the South Texas Medical Center as well as research facilities in the Texas Research Park (see feature, page 70).

Children’s Cancer Research Center — The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio completed the $50 million Children’s Cancer Research Center in 2003. The 100,000-square-foot center, built on Floyd Curl Drive in the Medical Center, was funded by a $200 million endowment that was part of the state’s 1998 lawsuit settlement against leading tobacco companies.

Research conducted there into the underlying molecular mechanisms of children’s cancers will be used to develop therapies and preventive strategies against various cancers. Hopefully, research findings may also include applications for cancers suffered by adults.

The San Antonio Center for Infectious Disease — Formerly the State Chest Hospital, the Center provides treatment and research into tuberculosis and leprosy (Hansen’s disease). It also operates the busiest Pap smear laboratory in the state.

San Antonio Cancer Institute — The Health Science Center and Cancer Therapy & Research Center are collaborators in the San Antonio Cancer Institute, the only facility in the region designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. Research strengths include cancer prevention, clinical investigation of drugsand treatments, drug development, andmolecular genetics.

Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research — founded in 1941 by the late Tom Slick, millionaire oilman and adventurer, the Southwest Foundation just marked its 61st anniversary as a private foundation. Research interests include diabetes, heart disease, emerging infectious diseases and genomics.

The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) — This non-profit organization is dedicated to the advancement of human health through research on the detection, cause, prevention, treatment and eradication of disease.

Located on a 332-acre campus in northwest San Antonio, SFBR partners with hundreds of collaborators worldwide. Among its nearly 400 employees are 75 doctoral-level scientists who lead more than 180 active research projects, achieving marked success in the areas of genetics, neonatal development and infectious, metabolic and cardiovascular disease.

Texas Research Park — Located in far west San Antonio, this 1,500-acre park is home to CTRC’s Institute for Drug Development, the Health Science Center’s Institute of Biotechnology, the South Texas Centers for Biology in Medicine, and the Southwest Oncology Group.

The Sam and Ann Barshop Center for Aging and Longevity Studies — This is the permanent home for theUniversity Health Science Center’s growing stable of nationally known scientists who probe the biochemical basics of aging. Industry leaders hope to recruit morecommercial biotechnology firms to the Alamo City with this new construction.