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LIVERMORE TO LOSE VA FACILITIES -- Despite
efforts
by lawmakers, a VA medical facility and nursing
home will ultimately be moved out of Livermore
and into California's Central Valley.
Livermore, California VA
For more about the Livermore VA facility, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=livermore&op=and
Story here...
http://www.mercurynews
.com/breakingnews/ci_7018
152?nclick_check=1
Story below:
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Livermore to lose VA facilities
By Eric Kurhi
STAFF WRITER
LIVERMORE -- Despite efforts by local lawmakers, a Department of
Veterans Affairs medical facility and nursing home will ultimately be
moved out of Livermore and into the Central Valley.
VA officials announced Thursday that the agency's strategic plan for the
area involves transferring both the nursing home and outpatient care
facility off of the bucolic Livermore campus and into San Joaquin
County. A specific location has yet to be determined.
The Livermore grounds would be kept with the intention of converting it
into an assisted living and rehabilitation facility, possibly with
services contracted through a private firm. It would include a live-in
center for people who do not need the 24-hour care offered at a nursing
home, said Robert Goldman, administrator of the Livermore facilities.
In addition, a new outpatient clinic similar to the one currently in
Livermore will be constructed somewhere in the East Bay. The site is
uncertain, but it will not be in the location it is now.
Goldman said that some discussions have looked into moving the clinic
closer to the Hayward area, where there is a large concentration of
veterans.
None of these changes are imminent; Goldman said the 2008 budget is
"sealed" and that the soonest they could start work on the new
facilities would be 2009.
"Nothing is supposed to happen here until someone actually funds the new
facilities," Goldman said. "Until then, it's business as usual. But with
this hanging over us, it makes
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it more challenging."
Goldman said that when completed, the relocated facilities will serve
approximately 80,000 veterans who live in the Central Valley.
San Joaquin County officials have hoped to bring the facility there for
some time in order to meet that need.
But opponents to the move have said that shouldn't come at the expense
of East Bay veterans.
U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney earlier this year lobbied the department to
expand the Livermore campus to include a post-traumatic stress disorder
clinic.
"Livermore offers a peaceful and idyllic setting for veterans to rest
and receive the unmatched health and rehabilitative care the VA
provides," McNerney wrote in a May letter to Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Jim Nicholson.
In a Thursday press release, Nicholson said the changes will "result in
improved access to nursing home, primary and specialty care for veterans
in the Livermore and Central Valley areas. ... Veterans and their
families can rest assured a world-class nursing home will be
established."
Goldman said the Livermore campus will be missed.
"It's a very pleasant place to drive up to," he said.
The decision ends the three-year review process aimed at upgrading VA
facilities in Livermore and the Central Valley.
Eric Kurhi covers Livermore. Reach him at 925-847-2184 or e-mail
ekurhi@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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Larry Scott --
