VA chief to announce new hospital in LV

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, May 7, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi was to announce today the approval of a new hospital, outpatient clinic and nursing home for veterans in Southern Nevada today.

Principi was to sign off on a three-year, nationwide review of the veterans health-care system in Las Vegas today.

The VA plans to open new hospitals in Orlando and Las Vegas, while nationwide changes include the addition of 156 community clinics, four new spinal cord injury centers, two rehabilitation centers for the blind and an expansion of mental health outpatient services.

Some underutilized facilities will also be closed.

Through the program the VA will also work with Nellis Air Force Base to improve health-care services on the base and will improve its collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the department confirmed this morning.

"This is a banner day for us," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "I feel like a mother hen sitting sitting on a nest and I'm not getting off until this gets hatched."

Berkley said Congress already set aside $25 million to start working on the Las Vegas facilities, but a site needs to be selected and "we need to get a bulldozer in there to start building."

Berkley said she first met Principi face to face in an elevator after a committee hearing and asked him back to her office.

"He's had no peace since then," Berkley said. "He finally did this for me to stop harassing him. He probably did it more for himself than for me."

Berkley, like other members of the delegation, has been working with the secretary to educate him on the population growth and lack of medical services for veterans.

She said the consolidation program "punctuated" her argument that new facilities were needed since it showed several hospitals on the East Coast serving fewer patients. She said she understood the political difficulties of closing hospitals because no elected official wants to see one close in his or her district but "the facilties have to follow where the veterans are."

"If all the veterans are moving west, the hospitals better move with them," Berkley said.

The entire Nevada congressional delegation welcomed word of VA plans to build a Las Vegas-area hospital and add an outpatient clinic and nursing home, saying the facilities will solve a health care shortage for veterans in the state.

"As veterans ourselves, both Secretary Principi and I share a keen understanding of the issues facing our war heroes, and I applaud Secretary Principi's continued dedication to improving VA services in Nevada," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said "as the number one state in the country in terms of veteran population per capita, Nevada must be fully prepared to meet the needs of those who have fought and sacrificed for our nation."

Prinicipi called Ensign last week and had been assuring him all along that the facilities would be built.

"Secretary Principi's announcement today and the fact that he made the announcement in Las Vegas reflects the Bush administration's acknowledgement that we must address the needs of fast-growing states like Nevada in terms of veterans care," Ensign said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the health care facilities are "desperately needed" especially due to the area's increasing number of veterans.

"The bottom line for veterans is that they will be provided with first-rate health care in a centralized, modern facility, and without the delays which have become all too common in the VA system," Reid said.

"We still have a lot of work to do for other parts of the state, like Elko, Mesquite and Tonopah, for example, where the veterans' community is still significantly under-serviced," Reid said. "I am going to keep advocating for these communities, and all veterans in Nevada, until they have the level of care they deserve."

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said, "we can never do enough for those who have sacrificed to defend our nation. Nevada has one of the fastest growing veteran populations in the country, with more than 240,000 veterans currently living in our state. It is imperative that we have the facilities to provide for them."