Tyler Secures Stimulus Funds For VA Care Center By COSHANDRA DILLARD, Staff Writer   |   Mar 21, 2009

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced Friday that Tyler has secured an $8.6 million grant for a 160-bed Veterans Affairs extended care facility.

The grant is part of the stimulus expenditure plan, worth more than $17 million. Houston is the other site to receive funds for an extended care facility.

Smith County Director of Veterans Services Toby Cross said he is ecstatic to hear of the facility coming to East Texas and he has worked with officials at the Tyler Economic Development Corp and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, whose board of regents approved the donation of 20 acres of land in 2002, when a bid for a VA nursing home was first proposed.

"Smith County was at the top of the list for a number of years," Cross said. "It's needed in our area because there are 17,000 veterans in Smith County. It will also serve the tens of thousands of veterans across East Texas."

Dr. Kirk Calhoun, UTHSCT president, said he was thrilled about the announcement as well, after fighting for several years to bring the project into fruition. He received the news after meeting with legislators in Austin.

"We are very excited to have this veterans' nursing home near the health center," he said. "It gives us an opportunity to serve the community."

Calhoun said several local, state and federal legislators were involved, including State Rep. Leo Berman, State Rep. Tommy Merritt, Sen. Hutchison, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and county officials.

Dr. Calhoun revived the project for the facility last month after conducting research for funding.
"I noticed there were $150 million placed in the federal stimulus package for the construction of veterans' nursing homes," he said.

The facility will be designated for veterans who cannot live independently, Dr. Calhoun said. They will be provided meals and basic medical care. "It allows them to continue in their elder years with dignity," he said. "We are hoping that with the presence of this facility, it will create additional services for other veterans in the area."

Calhoun said there is a design already available and the facility will be located on Texas Highway 155, just west of Texas 271.

Sen. Hutchison is Texas' senior senator and the ranking Republican member of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies.

"I'm pleased that this funding will help improve and expand health care services for our wounded heroes and spur growth in Texas communities," Sen. Hutchison said in a prepared statement. "The stimulus bill that Congress passed in February should have focused on more projects like these, which our government had already planned to do and that are in fact stimulative."

According to officials at Sen. Hutchison's office, there is not yet a timeline for the project.