Dole VA Medical Center renovations to be completed in 2016

The Robert J. Dole Veterans Affairs Medical Center expects to finish three renovations this summer and open a new primary care building next May.

This summer’s renovations include a solar panel project, expanded parking and emergency generators for the VA Medical Center campus at 5500 E. Kellogg. The primary care facility will cost about $7.5 million, the solar panels about $5 million, the parking about $1 million and the generator about $700,000.

Laura Barton, compliance officer for the medical center, said construction of the new primary care building began in October 2014. She said the VA designed new facility to provide team-based care – an industry-wide movement for patients’ medical providers to work closer with one another. The center will be designed in pods, so that providers can work together.

Right now, the primary care patients are seen on the west side of campus, and Barton said the VA would fill the space with other medical offices when the new building opens in May 2016.

“We’ve grown so vastly over the past years that we needed to expand,” she said.

In the meantime, John Orrell, public affairs officer for the medical center, said the construction would not affect any veteran services.

Funding for the primary care building, parking and generators will come from the medical center’s budget. But the solar panel project is entirely funded through President Obama’s 2011 Green Building Initiative.

The new solar panels will sit above the parking lot on the north side of the campus and should be finished in mid July. Orrell said the solar panels could generate up to 1.6 kilowatts of energy per hour, at its best, and save the medical center roughly $200,000 per year.

“That frees up $200,000 to do other things for our veterans,” Barton said.

Barton said the medical center will finish installing generators for the entire campus by August. She said the generators would be mobile, so that they can be used for emergencies in other areas of the community.

To expand parking, the VA is combining three current lots on the southeast corner of campus. Barton said the renovation will add 100 parking spots and should be finished June 30.

This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 6:41 AM with the headline "Dole VA Medical Center renovations to be completed in 2016."