The VA Health Care System is undertaking $20 million dollars in construction and renovations on its facility in Sioux Falls. Officials hope the additional space will help doctors provide better care to area veterans.
Darwin Goodspeed is the Director of the VA Health Care System in Sioux Falls. He says not having space for doctors to see patients is a limiting factor in providing care.
“In the clinical space we are very cramped. A cardiologist could be using a clinic in the morning and in the afternoon it’s a neurologist. By having expanded space we’re able to have that cardiologist have clinic all day long- to have more exam rooms so that they have their own space to see their patients and increase the amount of time providers are available to see veterans,” says Goodspeed.
The new construction adds space for primary care, specialty medicine, physical therapy, and oncology. Goodspeed says the health center currently serves about 27,000 veterans in the eastern South Dakota area. But with more clinic room, they can reach more veterans.
“We’ve added a new oncologist so we needed additional space for that clinic. And then we’re adding a specialty medicine clinic on the roof. It’s going to be 8,000 square feet of specialty medicine clinic space. This will really give our specialist the room they need to care for veterans and improve access,” says Goodspeed.
The primary care addition is expected to be finished this fall. All of the building projects are targeted to be completed over the next two years.
Veteran facilities are also receiving updates in the Black Hills.
The VA Black Hills Health Care System has new surgical facilities. A ribbon cutting is planned Friday the 22nd at the VA Fort Meade Hospital near Sturgis. The space includes three operating rooms, a recovery area, and new patient rooms.
C.B. Alexander is the Associate Director of the VA Black Hills Health Care System.
“Now all the procedure, the prepping for the procedure, the recover, will be done in a surgical area. It’s controlled, there’s a very short travel space, staff is centralized so there’s efficiency in the staff utilization, and then his family will wait in an area adjacent to the surgical suite," says Alexander.
The surgical rooms were originally constructed back in the 1980s. The project to update the facility cost 9-million dollars. Alexander says the updates allow veteran health care to be more efficient.