VA Announces Awarding of Funding For Projects

[boardman]

VA Announces Awarding of Funding For Projects

VA Awards $3.7 Million for New Hampshire Veterans Home

WASHINGTON (June 8, 2009) - To ensure high-quality health services for Veterans at the state home in Tilton, N.H., the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding a grant of up to $3.7 million for upgrades there, including energy enhancements and asbestos abatement.

The estimated cost the project at the State Veterans Home in Tilton is $5.7 million, with VA's grant covering 65 percent of the total. The New Hampshire Veterans Home agreed to enter into a contract for the improvements within 90 days of an agreement with VA.

Last year, VA spent more than $336 million in New Hampshire on behalf of the state's 131,000 Veterans. VA operates a major medical center in Manchester and five outpatient clinics. The Department's facilities provided care last year during 189,000 outpatient visits.

The state-run Veterans home in Tilton supplements these federal services. For more information about the New Hampshire Veterans Home and other New Hampshire services for Veterans, visit http://www.nh.gov/nhveterans/bene.html.


North Dakota Veterans Home Receives Funds for Nursing Facility

WASHINGTON (June 4, 2009) -- To support high-quality health services for North Dakota's Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $14.7 million grant to build a replacement nursing home care and domiciliary facility at the state Veterans home in Lisbon.

The North Dakota Veterans Home, established in 1891, provides two levels of care to North Dakota Veterans and spouses. The new facility will have 52 beds in the skilled-care nursing home and 69 beds in the basic care, independent-living residence. The grant covers 65 percent of the projected total cost of $25.6 million.

The home is open to honorably discharged Veterans who are state residents, and to their spouses, widows and widowers. More details about the facility are available on the Internet at http://www.nd.gov/ndvh/ or by calling 701-683-6500.

Last year, VA spent nearly $202 million in North Dakota on behalf of the state's 57,700 Veterans. VA operates a medical center and a benefits office in Fargo, plus outpatient clinics and Vet Centers throughout the state.


VA Awards $5.2 Million for Minnesota Veterans Homes

WASHINGTON (June 4, 2009) - To support high-quality health care for Minnesota Veterans at the state's Veterans homes, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding two grants totaling $5.2 million for improvements at the state-run facilities in Minneapolis and Silver Bay.

The grants will pay up to 65 percent of the cost for improvements at the two facilities. Construction at both sites is scheduled to be completed within 180 days.

In Silver Bay, VA is providing $3.9 million for a $6 million project. In Minneapolis, the grant will cover $1.3 million of a $2 million project.

Last year, VA spent about $1.5 billion in Minnesota on behalf of the state's 400,000 Veterans. VA operates major medical centers in Minneapolis and St. Cloud, eight outpatient clinics, Vet Centers in Duluth and St. Paul, and the Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.

More information about the Minnesota state Veterans homes and related Minnesota services for Veterans are available on the Internet at http://www.mdva.state.mn.us .


VA Awards $38.3 Million for Hospital Modernization

WASHINGTON (June 4, 2009) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $38.3 million contract to the Walsh Construction Company of Chicago to construct an Ambulatory Care Center for the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System.

The project will provide outpatient services at the H. J. Heinz Division in a two-story, 117,000-square-foot structure, with a connecting corridor to the existing community living center. The new facility will provide primary care, physical rehabilitation, audiology, dental care, outpatient pharmacy and patient education.

The construction contract also provides for the renovation of the community living center, demolition of two other buildings, site excavation and grading, construction of new roads, parking lots and walks, and landscaping.

The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System serves the Veteran population throughout the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Last year, VA spent nearly $3.3 billion on behalf of the Commonwealth's 1 million Veterans. VA operates 10 major medical centers in Pennsylvania, nearly 40 outpatient clinics and four national cemeteries.

Massachusetts Veterans Cemetery to Expand

WASHINGTON (June 8, 2009) -- To expand burial capacity at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a Boston firm a design contract to develop another section of the cemetery.

"The expansion of Massachusetts National Cemetery will ensure the Veterans of this community continue to be honored for their military service," Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Steve Muro said. "A grateful nation provides this beautiful cemetery as a lasting tribute to their sacrifice and memory."

The contract for $1.4 million was awarded to Cubellis, Inc. The design documents will be completed in late 2010 or early 2011.

The 25-acre development is the third for the cemetery, which opened in 1980, and will provide another 10 years of burial spaces. It will include approximately 8,500 pre-placed crypts for casket burials, 1,000 in-ground cremation burial sites and 3,800 columbaria niches, also for cremation remains.

The project also will include a new administration building; a public information center with an electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms; a new maintenance building; renovation of existing maintenance structures; systems for water distribution, irrigation and utilities; and roads, signage and landscaping.

In the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 128 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than three million Americans, including Veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA's national cemeteries.

Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for all eligible Veterans, whether buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker.

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices at 1-800-827-1000.

VA Transferring 85.4 Acres from North Chicago VA Medical Center

WASHINGTON (June 11, 2009) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced plans to transfer 85.4 acres of land from the North Chicago VA Medical Center to the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

"Savings resulting from the transfer of land will enable VA to support its ongoing efforts to improve health care services to Veterans in the Chicago area by better aligning facilities and assets," said Dr. Gerald M. Cross, VA's Acting Under Secretary for Health.

The university has agreed to use the land solely for the purpose of educating students in the health sciences, a significant part of VA's mission. Since 2002, the university has been using the property under an enhanced-use lease agreement with VA. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs recently determined that the majority of the land leased to the university would not be needed by VA in the future.

The transfer agreement also facilitates the use of 8.5 acres to be used for the planned Joint Federal Health Care Facility to be shared by VA and the Navy. The transfer will save VA the cost of maintaining property it no longer needs.

The property has been most recently used as a staging area for construction of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, a joint VA and Department of Defense medical facility scheduled to open in late 2010.