WALLA WALLA -- The Department of Veterans Affairs will build a $6.7 million residential rehabilitation facility focused on mental health at the VA medical campus in Walla Walla.
VA Secretary James Peake made the announcement Tuesday during a visit to the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center campus.
"This project supports the VA's commitment to provide for the health care needs of Washington veterans," Peake said. "It's those kinds of things that are going to let us move forward."
The 22,000 square-foot regional residential recovery unit will include 36 beds, Peake said. Its proposed location is the southwest corner of the medical center's campus near the exercise park but plans for construction and an opening date still are being developed.
The unit will provide various levels of mental health care, including homeless and employment services, substance abuse treatment, psychosocial support and re-entry from incarceration services.
"There's a need for it," said Phil Clifton, 78, of College Place, who has used the medical center since 1970.
"I'm not so sure it will be built," he added. "I hope they will."
Many veterans who attended a community forum Tuesday afternoon with Peake, Murray and McMorris-Rodgers expressed similar fears. "They need these facilities," said Bob Sherman, 59, of West Richland. "If you look at the geographic area that this hospital is designated to serve, it's enormous."
The medical center serves nearly 65,000 veterans in 15 counties in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, according to the center.
It was threatened in 2003 after the CARES Commission -- an independent commission charged with studying the VA's plans for realigning its health care system -- proposed closing facilities, including Walla Walla's medical center.
Representatives from Washington, including Murray, fought the closure and in 2004 Murray secured $250,000 to help the Walla Walla VA Task Force ensure the future of the facility. "We've come a long way from then," Murray said.
In addition to the forum, Peake toured the medical center and met with staff, patients and the task force. The next stop during his tour of facilities is Montana, he said.
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