House secures funds in advance of VA hospital

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003 | 9:11 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House authorized $6.5 million on Wednesday to fund a lease for a veterans outpatient clinic in Clark County.

The approval will help hold money in place until the plans for the potential new hospital and nursing home made by the Veterans Administration can be finalized.

After the Addeliar D. Guy III VA Ambulatory Care Clinic closed in June, the VA had to spread services among 15 temporary locations. The original plan was to lease a space for a new clinic, so Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. co-sponsored legislation to help provide funds for the lease.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., supported their efforts by voting in favor of the bill Wednesday.

But due to a re-evaluation of the veterans health care situation in Clark County, the VA proposed building an 81-bed hospital with an outpatient clinic and a 120-bed nursing home through its Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services, or CARES, program.

A VA committee visited Las Vegas late last month gathering input on its plans to build the 50-acre facility. A site has yet to be selected and plans have not been finalized for its construction.

Berkley spokesman David Cherry said the approval of the $6.5 million authorized by the House Wednesday will help hold that money in place until negotiations for the bigger project start.

"This does not represent the total amount of money needed for the project, but it keeps the ball rolling," Cherry said.

"In light of the VA's new plan for veterans health care facilities, I ask the committee to continue to work with me to update the authorization level to reflect the demands in Southern Nevada and to allocate funds for a full service VA medical complex," Berkley said on the House floor Wednesday.

Berkley and Porter have a separate bill that aims to authorize $250 million for the new facilities. That bill is still pending.