Smith, who was appointed director for the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in April, had a 22-year military career serving as an administrator in the Army hospital service. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.
“It’s a sacred trust taking care of soldiers and their families,” Smith said.
After retiring from the military, Smith spent almost two years working as CEO and administrator in a private sector hospital. In late 2005, he came to Temple to work at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center.
Working at the Temple VA was just another way to continue serving military men and women, just at a different stage in their lives, Smith said.
As director, Smith is responsible for a health care system made up of two hospitals in Temple and Waco, a stand-alone clinic in Austin and four community-based outpatient clinics in Central Texas. The Central Texas system has an operating budget of about $415 million and 3,100 employees.
“One of the greatest challenges and greatest opportunities is continuing to take care of our OEF and OIF (Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom) veterans,” he said.
Many soldiers come through Fort Hood, giving the system an opportunity to transition them into the VA for health care, Smith said.
The VA is positioning itself, he said, to be responsive to the many veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffering from mental health problems and signature injuries, including post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Research on PTSD and traumatic brain injury taking place at Waco VA’s Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans will likely have national and international implications on care provided to individuals with those injuries, Smith said.
The Central Texas VA continues to look at areas where it can open up community-based outpatient clinics closer to veterans, Smith said. Such a clinic will open in La Grange in the near future and when a new hospital is built on Fort Hood, it will probably include a VA community-based outpatient clinic.
It’s all about making medical care for veterans more convenient, he said.
Over the past few years, partnerships have developed between the VA and other community entities, Smith said. The collaborations between the VA, Temple, Scott & White Healthcare and Texas A&M College of Medicine in clinical, academic and research alliances continue to grow.
“I’m very excited when I go to events like the TMED meetings and the role we’re going to be able to play in the project,” Smith said.
Shortly after being named interim director in October, Smith met individually with Temple Mayor Bill Jones III; Dr. Alfred Knight, Scott & White CEO and president; and Dr. Christopher Colenda, dean of medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
“I shared with them where I thought Central Texas VA was going, but more importantly, I asked for feedback about our relationships, our partnerships, where they stood right now,” he said. “More specifically, I wanted to know how we could improve, what direction we should go. I was excited about the responses and it helped me formulate the vision and direction I want to take this organization in the next few years.”
At a reception in Smith’s honor, Dr. Edward Sherwood, Central Texas VA chief of staff, said the director’s job is a difficult one.
“We understand,” Sherwood told Smith, “you need people going out every day providing quality, timely and compassionate care for the veterans we serve. There’s no better way that we can serve you than to serve those veterans.”
