VA nursing home facility in Beckley gets green light

Mar. 3—Area veterans will soon have access to a new veterans nursing home in Beckley, the first one in Southern West Virginia.

Gov. Jim Justice made the announcement Thursday during a virtual press briefing.

The 120-bed facility will sit on 12 acres adjacent to the Jackie Withrow Hospital on Eisenhower Drive.

"We owe our existence to our veterans and our military," he said. "What these people have given is unbelievable and they have given so much and asked for so little."

Justice said it was a great honor to sign the design and engineering work contract and "drop the hammer" on the project.

"We are on the way to a wonderful facility that will help so many of our veterans," he said. "It is a great honor."

The first state veterans nursing home, in Clarksburg, was opened 15 years ago and primarily serves veterans in North Central West Virginia.

"This new nursing facility is going to mean the world to our veterans and their families who have needed this facility in Southern West Virginia for a long time," Justice said.

The Beckley facility will be state-of-the-art, designed around the Veterans Health Administration's Small House Model, which features clusters of "neighborhood" housing areas with private rooms and community spaces that adjoin shared, fully accessible kitchens. The facility will also include a central common area that will house recreational and health care services.

Veterans diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or dementia will have 20 beds available.

"Under Governor Justice's support and leadership, this tremendous project is going to happen. The Beckley veterans nursing facility will give the families of Southern West Virginia veterans the ability to seek top-quality care for their senior loved ones, and the care will be closer to home," West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance Cabinet Secretary Edward Diaz said in a statement about the announcement.

"My staff and I have worked tirelessly on making this facility a reality," he said. "We understand that this architectural and engineering agreement is only one step toward construction of the new nursing facility, but it is a huge, critically important step."

The facility will be constructed through a combination of federal Veterans Administration and state money. Justice, with the Legislature's full support, has earmarked funds in the state's budget to serve as a match for federal grant dollars

A partnership of SFCS Architects and Thrasher Engineering will oversee the architectural and engineering work for the facility. Roanoke, Va.-based SFCS has designed more than a dozen high-profile, veterans-specific facilities across the United States. Thrasher Engineering, a West Virginia company, is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's largest and most versatile full-service architecture and engineering firms.

Potential names for the facility are still being considered from among several highly decorated West Virginia Veterans.

Beckley is also home to the Beckley VA Medical Center.

Justice also said during the briefing the state saw another revenue surplus in February, $111..8 million above estimates, and in a short month.

"That is great news," he said, and so far this fiscal year the surplus is up to $1.1 billion.

The fiscal year ends on June 30 and the state is projected to have a total of $1.7 billion revenue above estimates.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com