Upgrading 70-Year Old VA Hospital To Modern Needs = Expanded Care for Military

Posted : 04/15/2010

Military Veterans will recognize the exterior of the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center when they come for care.  The big difference is inside.  The home of the Behavioral & Mental Health Services on the 5th floor is now bigger, brighter and better organized.

The VA says that the improved physical setting will enable greater improvement and expansion of patient treatment and patient safety.

Wilhelm Construction, Inc. of Indianapolis led the project that renovated 12,000 square feet into space for modern behavioral health treatment methods, both for inpatient and outpatient care.  Wilhelm engineers and construction workers built new patient rooms; a central nurses station with a clear view of three major treatment areas and larger group rooms to allow for expansion of services.  Wilhelm’s Troy Sissom was project manager, and Ed Davis the construction superintendent.

With this renovation, the major programs within the Department are now located on the same floor to allow Veterans to be treated simultaneously at levels of care specific to their needs.

Renovating a structure that had served veterans since before WW II saved money for the VA, but also presented challenges for the construction crews.  A hallway was slightly moved to allow for a structural column, for example.  But the result is a facility allowing improved, state-of-the-art psychiatric care for Veterans, and space to handle future treatment upgrades.

Building the new Behavioral & Mental Health Services is the latest project in an ongoing relationship between the Roudebush VA Medical Center and Wilhelm.

Background

The Roudebush VA Medical Center is the only complex, tertiary (specialized consulting) care facility for Veterans in the State of Indiana, providing access to highly specialized services, the latest equipment and the diagnosis and treatment of complicated and complex disorders. Roudebush provides acute inpatient medical, surgical, behavioral health, neurological, and rehabilitation care.  It serves 196,000 Veterans living in a 45-county area of Indiana and Illinois.

Wilhelm is the largest employer of construction trade labor in Indiana with over 2.5 million man-hours worked annually.  This equates to an average of over 1,200 fulltime field employees.

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