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What’s Happening in Your VAMHCS Neighborhood?
New Nursing Home and Modernization at Perry Point VA Medical Center
By Margaret Hornberger

Robert Patterson, contracting officer technical representative/inspector in Facilities & Engineering Service at Perry Point, reviews the blueprints for the Nursing Home Care Unit in Building 25H with Iris Hernandez-Autry, RN, MSN, associate chief nurse, Geriatrics and Long Term Care, VAMHCS.

Even though the Perry Point VA Medical Center has been approved for the construction of a new state-of-the-art nursing home as a result of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) review process, the project is still pending congressional funding. Since the ground breaking for the new nursing home could still be several years away, VAMHCS management made the decision to renovate Building 25H at Perry Point as a short-term replacement facility for the nursing home residents in Building 9H. Due to the aging infrastructure of Building 9H and the extensive repairs that would be necessary to keep it operational for patient care, VAMHCS management decided that it would be more cost effective to renovate Building 25H to serve as an interim replacement facility until the new nursing home is completed.

It is anticipated that the renovations of Building 25H will be completed by the end of fiscal year 2007. The renovation project includes a new exterior for the building finish and the addition of a front ramp, porch and canopy. Interior renovations include a new nurse call system, new finishes, additional bath/shower rooms and upgraded heating and air conditioning systems.

The newly-renovated nursing home care unit will feature pods, which are small stations disbursed throughout the unit that will allow nursing staff to be closer to the patients as opposed to the conventional centralized nursing station. The pod feature is just one of the many key concepts that will help to create the sense of a community nursing home, rather than an institutional environment. This new concept will also be utilized in the new nursing home, where a more personalized and home-like environment for residents will be fully implemented.

Upon completion of the renovation project, 55 residents from Building 9H will be relocating to Building 25H, with the other 25 residents moving to the recently renovated geriatric unit on Ward 23A. The relocation of the 80 nursing home residents from Building 9H will help to enhance patient care and improve the working environment for employees until the new replacement facility at Perry Point is completed.