Report: VA hospital crumbling

WASHINGTON — The aging Omaha VA Medical Center needs hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades, renovations and new construction to address a long list of problems, according to a report released Monday.

The report lists “numerous, significant space and functional deficiencies” at the facility. Among them:

• Aging water and sewer systems due for replacement.

• Insufficient on-site parking.

• Roof, walls and windows that need to be repaired or replaced.

• Eight elevators in poor condition that need modernization.

• Surgical service undersized for the current workload.

• Operating rooms that do not meet current criteria for size and configuration.

U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who requested the study, said it found “crumbling windows and walls” and “seriously outdated surgical capacity.”

He said he has suggested for years that the Omaha facility needs work and that the study results are not surprising.

“The deficiencies threaten to diminish the quality of care available to veterans in the Nebraska and western Iowa region,” Nelson said. The study was conducted for the VA by GLHN Architects & Engineers Inc.

Nelson said that he has met with U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and that the secretary has agreed to work on addressing problems in Omaha.

However, there don't appear to be any cheap solutions.

The study evaluated five “concepts” for addressing the deficiencies identified, ranging in price from $477 million to $603 million. Four of those concepts involve relocating major services to off-site locations.

The fifth, which the report recommended, would keep most services on the Omaha campus. The price tag for that option — $550 million.

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a field hearing on the topic at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Omaha VA Medical Center Educational Resource Room.

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., a member of the committee, requested the hearing. He had pressed the VA in June to release the results of the study on the Omaha facility.

“The Omaha VA Medical Center, which provides care to many of Nebraska’s military heroes, is in disrepair,” Johanns said then. “It is time to take the next steps to address the problem.”

The VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System serves more than 172,500 veterans in Nebraska, western Iowa and sections of Kansas and Missouri. The Omaha VA Medical Center offers both inpatient and outpatient primary and specialty care services.

Will Ackerman, a spokesman for the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, declined to comment on the study's specific findings. He referred questions to a spokeswoman in Washington, who could not be reached.

“It's obviously a step toward ensuring that we have a facility that continues to meet the needs of our veterans,” Ackerman said.

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