91视频

Design work is underway on a medical center and home that would provide much-needed room for aging Oregonian veterans.

Salem-based and global firm this fall were contracted to conduct the design, engineering and consulting services for the construction of Oregon’s second veterans’ home in Lebanon.

The $30 million budget will bring 150 beds for long-term care, rehabilitation services, and Alzheimer’s and dementia care, according to Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs project manager John Osborn.

Oregon’s only existing veterans’ home is a 151-bed facility in The Dalles, but according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Oregon needs more than 900 skilled nursing beds for its aging veterans.

鈥淲e do need facilities and we want to put them as close as we can to the veterans and where they live,鈥� Osborne said. 鈥淲e don’t want the veterans or their loved ones to have to travel very far if they are in one of these facilities.鈥�

Construction on the Lebanon facility is expected to begin by the end of 2012 and last for 14 months.

ODVA is also working on a study to validate a recent decision from the Oregon Legislature to build a third facility in Roseburg. Osborn said that report will be finished by 2015.