For some people, construction can mean inconvenience. At the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center, construction means progress.
While the medical center ordinarily has a lot of renovation going on around the facility, including work currently being done to enhance the Outpatient Clinic, the Dublin VA also has five major construction projects in progress, including a new mental health building on its front lawn, extension of its dementia care unit, significant parking expansions, major additions to its boiler plant and air handling capabilities, and destruction of some older structures to prepare for future growth. In recent years, the VA has completed multi-million dollar projects including a hospice care unit, wellness center, and nursing care center as well as new endoscopy and general surgery suites.
According to chief engineer Fred Williams, coordinating so many projects requires diligence and constant attention, but the results are well worth the effort.
“At the VA, construction represents improvement. Whether it is small-scale renovations or major projects like our new mental health building and boiler plant changes, it always means progress in the way that we care for veterans,” Williams said.
Williams also noted the positive economic impact that construction has on the Middle Georgia area.
“Our focus is always on improving programs and services for our veterans, but we certainly enjoy the fact that construction activity contributes to local prosperity. Our VA medical center is part of the community, so we get a lot of satisfaction knowing that we are a vital part of its success,” Williams said.
The new mental health building alone will cost approximately $9 million to build with boiler plant work ticketed at over $14 million. Construction on the approximately 23,000 square foot mental health facility officially began in November and is expected to be complete in early 2018. Williams points out that in addition to the construction itself, the activity generates a positive economic impact locally because of the workers and others involved in the construction.
“Our current major construction totals about $40 million and while the work goes on, people are eating here, buying here, staying here. Construction at our medical center is a win-win for everyone, especially our veterans,” Williams said.
The Dublin VA is Laurens County’s largest employer with approximately 1,350 employees managed by the medical center and another few hundred other staff housed at the center who work for VA components such as Veterans Southeast Network 7 and VA regional IT. The medical center also provides space for three Georgia Department of Veterans Service employees who assist veterans and their families with benefits questions.
Williams said that parking and ventilation projects may not be particularly interesting to some people but represent important changes for the medical center and its stakeholders.
“Parking has long been a challenge at the medical center so we are excited to get to work on new space, and making sure that our air handling capabilities are top-notch is critical not only for health care but for ensuring our visitors’ comfort.”
VA associate director Jay De Worth said that coordinating major projects can require years of advance planning, making constant review of operations necessary to ensure accurate projections.
“At Carl Vinson VA Medical Center we’re always assessing our operations and projecting into the future. Modern health care is one of the fastest advancing fields technologically and academically, so we stay abreast of changes and work hard to plan accordingly. Our Engineering team does a great job of planning projects to address our needs and managing them.”
Medical center director Maryalice Morro, who has managed the Dublin VA since March 2015, agreed with Williams about the positive impact of construction.
“Everything that we do is directed toward making our services and programs as efficient and convenient as possible for veterans and ongoing construction projects will certainly do that. Keeping our services current and cutting-edge means that we’ll never be through with construction, but that’s a good thing for our veterans and our community. Continual progress and improvement to provide the highest quality health care in the safest possible environment is our commitment,” Morro said.
Future projects at the VA will include construction of a new water tower to replace the existing one, major renovations to the medical center’s Sterile Processing Unit, redesign of the Outpatient Clinic to enhance efficiency and heighten patient privacy, conversion of the old laundry building to provide additional office space, and work after destruction of some of the older buildings to prepare for other future construction.
Williams sees no end to construction in the foreseeable future.
“VA across the nation is constantly updating and innovating and our medical center is no exception. The needs of our veterans require that we regularly review how we provide health care and services and that won’t change. In the years that I’ve been at the Dublin VA we’ve always had construction going on and I expect that to continue for years to come. Our structures and processes are always changing but our absolute commitment to America’s heroes never does,” Williams said.
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