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STUDY WILL DETERMINE IF OMAHA NEEDS A NEW VA
HOSPITAL -- "It's an old facility. You don't have
to be an
engineer to figure that out when you walk around
and see it."
Omaha VA hospital.
Story here ...
http://www.omaha.co
m/index.php?u_page=1219&u_sid=10415909
Story below:
NOTE: If you wish to post a comment,
go to the end of the story and use our new "Comment"
feature.
-------------------------
Omaha VA hospital on federal study list
BY MATTHEW HANSEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Sam Sambasile is one small step closer to getting a better hospital.
The World War II veteran, a longtime patient of Omaha's VA Medical Center,
cheered the announcement Monday that a federally funded study will soon
help determine if Omaha needs an entirely new veterans hospital.
The $500,000 study marks the Omaha VA hospital as one in serious need of
repair; the federal government generally funds about 10 such studies a
year.
It also confirms what patients, politicians and VA administrators have
long known: The current hospital is 57 years old, cramped, and suffering
from broken water pipes and faulty heating and air conditioning.
"I've had real, real good luck as far as the treatment I've received
there," Sambasile said Monday. "But sometimes the place is just jammed."
Veterans Affairs hired an Arizona-based firm to study if a new hospital
should be built, possibly on or near the University of Nebraska Medical
Center campus. Another option is an extensive renovation of the current VA
Medical Center, near 42nd and Center Streets.
 Nancy
Gregory, the Omaha VA medical center's interim director, said she has no
preference between a new hospital and a renovated one.
But she and others believe that something needs to be done. VA Secretary
James Peake toured the hospital with U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson and U.S. Rep.
Lee Terry in June. After the tour, all three labeled the hospital out of
date.
"It's an old facility," Peake said at the time. "You don't have to be an
engineer to figure that out when you walk around and see it."
The feasibility study also will weigh several funding options. Nebraska VA
officials have requested $250 million to $400 million to cover the cost of
a serious renovation or new hospital.
The money would allow the VA to expand by as much as 200,000 square feet
and replace an aging infrastructure that's causing busted pipes and
problems with heating and cooling, Gregory said.
It also would mean new operating rooms; many current operating rooms
haven't been renovated since the hospital opened in 1951.
"They are no longer state of the art," Gregory said.
It's too early to tell when a new or newly renovated VA hospital could
open in Omaha, Gregory said.
Sambasile hopes it's sooner rather than later.
The World War II veteran has spent countless hours at the VA Medical
Center as an employee. He volunteered as a security guard for years, and
as a patient has been treated for an array of ailments, including
diabetes, high blood pressure and cataract surgery.
The quality of care he has received isn't a problem, Sambasile said. In
fact, it's so good that he'd choose to go to the veterans hospital even if
he had to pay full price.
But, like everyone else, he also notices the problems: the cramped eye
clinic, older veterans who tool around the packed parking lot futilely
searching for an empty spot, the busloads of veterans that arrive daily
from Grand Island and Lincoln.
The VA's only Nebraska hospital serves an estimated 172,500 veterans
across the state and western Iowa.
"It's overcrowded," Sambasile said. "The only way they can take care of it
is find another place with more room."
-------------------------
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