Veterans, employees can sign beam
CENTER TWP — Veterans and VA employees are making their mark on the new health care center for VA Butler Healthcare.
Before the last structural beam will be set into place during a topping out ceremony at 11 a.m. April 6, employees and veterans can sign the beam at the construction site at 325 New Castle Road.
“It's very exciting,” said VA director David Cord. “I know the employees are getting excited about it, I think the community's getting very excited about it, and I know I'm getting excited about it and am looking forward to it.”
Construction for the new center on the former Herold Farm is four to five months ahead of schedule.
“I think the construction's moving along at a great pace,” Cord said. “I think the mild winter and early spring have helped.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, of Butler will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony.
Cord said the hope is to have the center built by the summer of 2017 and open by late that summer or early that fall. So far, he's had reason to be confident in that goal.
“Working with (Cambridge Healthcare Solutions), and working with the architects and engineers and working with the contractor on this job has really been a smooth process,” Cord said.
He has ensured the community is not left out of the process of being updated about the new health care center. He's had town hall meetings for the community about the project, including one that will be the day after the ceremony.
“Those are well attended, and it's our opportunity to get feedback from the community about the project and to make sure the community knows all the latest developments,” Cord said.
While the project is ahead of the construction schedule, Cord said it's also on budget financially.
“The nice thing about a project like this is this is not a project that is being funded or utilizing taxpayer dollars for the construction,” he said.
“This is actually private construction. Cambridge is the developer of this, so we already have an agreed-upon lease amount that we will pay for a 20-year lease period once we move into the building.”
The next step in the construction process is the pouring of the concrete. Beyond that, the workers will start with the frame of the building.
VA officials also have ordered medical equipment so it can be brought in for on-site installation when needed.
The 168,000-square-foot center is costing $163 million over the time of the lease.
Talking about the need for the new medical center, to replace the current facility on New Castle Road, Cord at a meeting in January said, “Our facility no longer provides the footprint needed for the quality of care we provide our veterans. We have an aging infrastructure, and we're using buildings that are 50 or 60 years old as our hospitals.”
The center will be a silver LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — two-story building. It will include primary care, specialty care, mental health, dental, diagnostic, laboratory, pathology, radiology, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, physical rehabilitation and women's health.
It will house telemedicine equipment for telehealth, clinical video telehealth, teledermatology, teleretinal exams and teleaudiology.
The VA serves 19,000 veterans in four counties.
