Plans move ahead for new VA health center in Cape Girardeau

Nearly four years after Congress approved initial funding for construction of a new veterans health care center in Cape Girardeau, final design work is slated to begin soon, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Angela Smith, public affairs officer with the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said Tuesday plans have changed over time, but the project is moving forward.

�I think we are on the right path now,� she said.

Smith said the new health center would replace the VA�s existing outpatient clinic in Cape Girardeau with a larger facility that would provide more services.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., welcomed news of progress on the project.

�Veterans in the region need better access to quality health care, so I�m glad to see progress toward that goal. I�m closely following this project and look forward to seeing it come to life,� she said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, no relation to Angela, said in an email to the Southeast Missourian he wants �to see this project through completion as quickly as possible.�

The 8th District congressman blamed government �red tape� for project delays.

�We were all excited when the Cape veterans facility was named for expansion; unfortunately that excitement has been met with frustration as the project has been slowed by unrealistic and inappropriate red tape over construction requirements ... the type of requirements which provided no benefit to the veterans but simply served to increase costs to taxpayers,� the Salem, Missouri, Republican said.

He said the VA now has removed �many of the regulatory hurdles that were slowing construction and driving up costs.�

McCaskill�s office, citing information from the VA, said a market survey was conducted in December to identify potential sites in Cape Girardeau to develop a new health care center to replace the VA�s outpatient clinic.

The survey identified five vacant sites and one existing building at that time, according to the senator�s office. A final site has not been chosen.

Veterans Affairs recently selected Calvin L. Hinz Architects of Elkhorn, Nebraska, to work on the project. The firm will assist Veterans Affairs� office of construction and facilities management in design development on the project.

Once designed, the project will be put out for bids, McCaskill�s office said.

Officials with Pershing Medical Center met in April with facilities management design staff to review the project, McCaskill�s office said. A design meeting with Hinz Architects tentatively is scheduled for June, according to federal officials.

Angela Smith said there is no timetable on when planning will be completed or when construction could begin. Still, she said, �I expect to see some action very soon.�

In 2014, McCaskill and others pushed for funding to build 26 VA clinics, including one in Cape Girardeau.

Congress approved funding for the Cape Girardeau health center, estimated at that time to cost more than $2.3 million, according to McCaskill�s office. The VA now expects the price tag will be higher, the senator�s office said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

The VA outpatient clinic encompasses about 8,400 square feet of space in a commercial structure near West Park Mall. The new health center would have 43,000 square feet of space, according to VA information received from McCaskill�s office.

The VA�s Smith said in an email the existing outpatient clinic in Cape Girardeau provides primary medical care and mental health services. The new health center would include specialty care, she said.

Smith wrote expanded services could include gastrointestinal and urology (including biopsies and cystoscopy), audiology, women�s health, dermatology, as well as physical, respiratory and occupational therapy, and diagnostic radiology, tele-medicine services, and expansion of primary care and mental health services.

The outpatient clinic has been in operation near West Park Mall since moving its operations out of the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau in fall 2009.

Smith said the Cape Girardeau clinic serves about 5,624 patients and, on average, about 1,900 monthly visits.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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