By DEB RIECHMANN
The Associated Press
Friday, November 9, 2007; 4:07 AM
SAN ANTONIO -- President Bush paid an emotional visit Thursday to soldiers maimed or badly burned in combat and said his administration is determined to mend the nation's system of caring for veterans.
Medical advances provide troops with treatment unimaginable just a decade ago, but the system for managing that care has lagged, Bush said.
"Our system needs to be modernized," the president said after touring a new $45 million, privately funded rehabilitation center for veterans at Brooke Army Medical Center.
"We have an outdated system that can bog down some of those recovering in a maze of bureaucracy and that's what happened at Walter Reed," he said, referring to the Army medical center in Washington, D.C.
Bush's visit to Brooke comes amid scrutiny of veterans' care and discontent among returning troops after extended tours in Iraq.
The president said his administration had put in place recommendations of the commission he created after reports about substandard outpatient treatment at Walter Reed. He urged Congress to act on others that require legislation.
"There were serious problems (at Walter Reed) caused by bureaucratic delays and administration failures, and that is unacceptable," Bush said. `It's unacceptable to me as the commander in chief, it's unacceptable to the families of those who deserve the best care and it's unacceptable to the American people."
At the rehabilitation center, Bush stopped at a "gait lab," where amputees with protheses learn to walk on gravel, artificial turf and other surfaces. A pool with a simulated wave allows patients to practice their balance while riding tiny surf boards.
Bush toured a physical therapy gym where two double amputees tossed a ball while balancing themselves on exercise balls. He talked to two servicemen with faces so burned that scarring had left them with mask-like expressions.
The president also watched as Lance Cpl. Matt Bradford, 22, of Winchester, Ky., who lost both legs and his sight in an explosion in Iraq, climb a fake rock wall. Other soldiers cheered him on as he slowly scaled the 35-foot wall and captured a red flag at the top.
"Good man. Isn't he?" Bush said.
The administration recently announced it would hire workers to individually guide seriously wounded soldiers and their families through their recuperation.
An agreement signed by the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department creates coordinators to oversee the medical care between the agencies.
The first 10 coordinators, scheduled to be hired by Dec. 1, will work at Walter Reed; the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.; Brooke; and Balboa Park Naval Medical Center in San Diego.
According to the White House:
_Work is under way to set up a single disability exam to replace ones now required from both the VA and Defense Department.
_A new center for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury has hired its first workers and moved into temporary offices near Bethesda.
_A single Web site is in development to allow members of the military to track their medical recovery.
_A new regulation to update the disability schedule for traumatic brain injury and burns will be ready soon for public comment.
The VA will begin two reviews that will help provide the information necessary to modernize veterans' disability system, Bush said.
"I want to make sure our men and women coming out of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq have a modern disability system, and that's what the studies are going to do," he said.
Bush's visit to the medical center came between fundraisers in Houston and San Antonio that raised $1.3 million for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and the GOP's get-out-the-vote effort in the state.
In Houston, Bush attended a brunch at the mansion of Richard Kinder, chairman of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners. The second fundraiser was hosted by lawyer John Steen to help Cornyn in his race against Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega.
The president found time in Houston to shake hands and be photographed with a half-dozen astronauts and their families at Ellington Field.
The astronauts, wearing their blue flight suits emblazoned with American flags and NASA insignia, returned to Earth on Wednesday from the space shuttle Discovery's 15-day mission.