Crews begin moving earth Thursday for the Community Living Center to be built near the front corner of the main VA Butler Healthcare building along New Castle and Duffy roads. The center, set for completion in 2011, will house veterans who need physical rehabilitation. The one-story structure will have about 60 private rooms.

BUTLER TWP — The digging has started for VA Butler Healthcare's new nursing and respite center.

The center, called the Community Living Center, is being built on the east side of the main hospital building.

Dave Virag, VA spokesman, said Tuesday the $16 million project will take up to 24 months to complete with occupancy slated for sometime in 2011.

Intended for veterans who need physical rehabilitation, the one-story structure will have about 60 private rooms.

The VA's old nursing home is in the main hospital building and requires patients to share rooms and facilities. The average stay is about 55 days

The new center also will provide respite care for spouses, children and friends who care for veterans and need a rest. Each veteran gets 30 days of respite care annually.

The community living center is to be built in the front corner of the VA property near New Castle and Duffy roads.

The architectural firm is Radelet McCarthy and the construction is being done by Jack Gibson Construction of Warren, Ohio.

The VA also is working to design a new domiciliary for veterans with substance abuse and social problems as they are re-entering civilian life after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Domiciliary residents work on reacclimating to civilian life without the crutch of drugs or alcohol, with the average stay between three and six months.

The domiciliary should be ready in two years.

The VA hospital was built in 1939 as the Western Pennsylvania Tuberculosis Sanatorium, but state financial problems left the building empty and closed until 1942.

Needing a place to help veterans returning home from War World II, the then Veterans Administration bought the hospital and incorporated it into the VA's medical system. It was renamed Deshon General Hospital.

Originally there were 500 hospital beds for general medical and surgical patients as well as tuberculosis patients, becoming the tuberculosis hospital it was designed to be in 1951.

With the 1959 announcement that tuberculosis could be treated with antibiotics, the hospital shifted back to the general medical treatment of veterans.

As the VA's medical system changed over the years, VA Butler Healthcare has become a primary care facility for veterans with outpatient and specialty clinics as well as skilled nursing and mental health care.