Berkley Statement on Groundbreaking of VA Medical Center

(Washington, DC -- October 12, 2006) Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) today released the following statement regarding the groundbreaking of the new Southern Nevada VA Medical Center, which is to occur next Friday, October 20, 2006 at 10 a.m.:

“After years of waiting, Southern Nevada will finally begin to see signs of construction on the new medical center that veterans in the region have long needed.  I am looking forward to joining Veterans Administration Secretary Nicholson next Friday, October 20, for a ceremony to celebrate groundbreaking on the new Southern Nevada VA Medical Center.  I am excited to celebrate the groundbreaking of this complex, and I know that when it opens in 2011, the veterans of Southern Nevada will at last have the care that they need and deserve.”  

The Center, which will be located on over 150 acres at the intersection of I-215 and Pecos Road, will be the Las Vegas Valley’s first VA hospital, outpatient clinic and long-term care facility.  The complex will feature a 90-inpatient bed hospital, a 120-bed nursing home for veterans and an outpatient clinic.  The Center will be over 900,000 square feet. 

The area’s veterans population has grown dramatically in recent years, and with the closing of the Valley’s only permanent VA facility, the A.D. Guy Clinic, in 2002, the need for a new full-service medical center has been that much greater.

Berkley has secured nearly $260 million in funding for the VA medical center to date and authored legislation that transferred to the VA nearly 150 acres of federal land to house the complex.  The total cost of the complex is estimated at $406 million, and Secretary Nicholson has said that the remaining funds will be included in the President’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget request. 

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