VA announces money for mental health facility in Walla Walla

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced plans Tuesday to build a residential rehabilitation facility focused on mental health care at southeast Washington's Walla Walla VA Medical Center health club, which serves some 69,000 veterans in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Details about the proposed $6.7 million facility are still being developed, but the announcement comes as welcome news for a community that just two years ago had been staving off the center's closure health club.

"This project supports VA's commitment to provide for the health care needs of Washington's veterans and recognizes the importance of mental health as an issue for our veterans," Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. James Peake said.

Peake made the announcement Tuesday morning after touring the medical center and meeting with staff members and patients. In the afternoon, nearly 300 area veterans and their families learned of the announcement at a meeting with Peake and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wash.

The availability of mental health care for veterans nationwide has been of increasing concern as more soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress and other disorders.

Heightening that concern is the knowledge that an estimated 38 percent of veterans live in rural areas.

Vance Kleyn, 61, spent 18 months as a helicopter crew chief on a gunship in Vietnam between 1966-68. He served three years total in the Army before going to work for the U.S. Forest Service and is now retired from the federal government.

"I'm really concerned when the guys come back that someone is there to help them, not just physically, but mentally," he said. "Every person is different, but there are going to be people out there who need that attention."

In particular, Kleyn said he believed early intervention with mental health services could alleviate some of the substance abuse problems prevalent among veterans who try to "self-medicate."

"Maybe we'll get away from that self medication if the VA has services to treat these people," he said.

Plans call for a 22,000-square-foot facility with 36 beds encompassing various levels of mental health care, including homeless and employment services, substance abuse treatment, psychosocial support and re-entry from incarceration.

Studies of mental health care in southeast Washington showed there were not enough services to meet the demands of the community itself, let alone all its veterans, Murray said.

"We've made some progress here in Walla Walla, but it's not enough," she said.

Established in 1858 on an 84-acre campus at Fort Walla Walla, the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center serves an estimated 69,000 veterans in southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon and northern Idaho. The center has 55 beds for nursing, psychiatric and substance abuse treatment.

The medical center has been threatened with closure for several years as part of an overhaul of the VA's health care system, and saving it became a bipartisan effort for lawmakers from the three states.

In 2006, the VA announced plans to build a $94 million outpatient clinic in Walla Walla to serve veterans. That project is 14th on the department's priority list for construction nationally and was not included in President Bush's proposed 2009 budget.

Also not included in the president's budget were a project for a seismic review at a VA nursing home and construction of a new mental health facility, both in Seattle. Those projects fell just short of receiving money health club.

However, on Friday, the VA announced that it has opened a temporary facility at Skagit Valley Hospital to provide primary and mental health services to veterans in northwest Washington.

Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., for years have pressed the VA to open a permanent outpatient clinic in that area to serve veterans health club.