VA facility in O'Hara a new approach for veterans' rehab

VA facility in O'Hara a new approach for veterans' rehab


VA facility in O'Hara a new approach for veterans' rehab
By Brian Bowling
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Snuggled onto the O'Hara campus of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Pittsburgh Healthcare System, the row of new residential villas looks like a typical modern housing development.

Steve Young, the VA official overseeing the system's $200 million project to renovate and expand its facilities, said the homelike setting represents a new way of thinking about providing rehabilitation to veterans.

"Pittsburgh is the first to adopt a move from an institutional setting to a residential setting," he said.

As veterans start moving into the housing this week, they'll settle into semiprivate bedrooms and shared kitchen and living facilities designed specifically for them -- from mattresses to prevent bed sores and other skin problems, to wall-mounted help buttons.

The villas are part of a project to renovate and expand the Heinz campus in O'Hara and the University Drive campus in Oakland while closing the Highland Drive facility in Lincoln-Lemington. Other parts of the project include an administration building in O'Hara the VA plans to move into next month.

Young said the administration building has minimal space for paper files.

"One of the goals is to go paperless," he said.

Heather Frantz, who works in public affairs for the VA, said the staff is slowly coming to terms with the idea -- mainly because the offices in the new building are smaller than the ones at Highland Drive.

"There's just not as much room," she said.

The VA plans for the administration building to receive at least a silver certification from the national, nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council. The council rates buildings on a system that assigns points based on the number of things the builder does to minimize a building's energy use and environmental impact. A silver certification is one step above minimal certification. There are two higher levels.

About 200 VA staff will use the administration building and another 100 staff and patients will work or live in the domiciliary buildings.

The housing is part of the VA's domiciliary program that helps eligible veterans reacquire the skills they need to live on their own.

Eligibility is based on income and whether the veteran has a service-connected disability.

The domiciliary part of the campus includes a central building with recreation and kitchen facilities, as well as housing for veterans who need more care. The villas are a mix of patio homes, apartments and townhouses for veterans able to handle more of their personal needs.

The villas vary in appearance to avoid any kind of institutional feel.


Brian Bowling can be reached at bbowling@tribweb.com or 412-320-7910.
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