I retired out of this place on December 31 2009 after 23 years of working here. the VA would like to close it down. the clame no one wants to move to a small town so they can't hire anyone. it was built in 1906-07 by the GAR as a TB sanatorium. the first veteran pt went in in December 07. the VA took it over when they were created in 24. at it's peak there were 5 wards in the hospital 50 beds each active surgery unit and a 6 bed ICU. with full support in diagnostics and out pt services running in the range of 1500 visits a month 500 beds in the domiciliary. active subsistence abuse program after care and work restoration programs and 100 bed homeless program and PTSD. veterans would come in male and female go into what they need the most. most were policy-substance abusers from self medication. then they would float to what every program was needed. giving the training in life skills and money threw the work restoration phase. so they had skills and a graduation certificate thew the state vo tec school as a nursing aid, Housekeeper or painter or employment in one of the other jobs for income and work hx. to give them a chance to recover and turn there life around with enough funds earned by them to get a start. then as the VA starting in 96 began to shut things down by abandoning them in favor of a big clinic in Rapid. so today it has 50 empty homeless beds no staff says management. homeless shelter in Rapid has a 50 bed veterans wing and been given over a million 6 to give homeless vets a place off the street. The PTSD and substance abuse program is still in place but they have a year waiting list to get in. the out pt clinic has 4 PAs or nurse practitioners. the ER is now a urgent care with one Dr. most of diagnoses has moved to a one day a week or not at all. majority of things are funneled 100 miles north to FT Mead. all supervisors and upper management are at FT mead drop down once a week to take care of things. Hot Springs has always been under staffed, under funded, but comes in under budget with a high pt satisfaction rating. even to day it is one of a few 5 star+ rated facilities. we kept it open by making it political incorrect to close it. but you can't fight abandonment. one grain of sand at a time. but remember the next time you hear of 22 vet a day killing themselves. there are 50 unused beds in Hot Springs they can't go to.
so it's a nice day I put 20 bucks worth of gas in the 67 we need to use it up some I don't think I have a picture of it in front of building one so took care of that today. went to put it away and missed it by that much. been driving to many short ones.
so it's a nice day I put 20 bucks worth of gas in the 67 we need to use it up some I don't think I have a picture of it in front of building one so took care of that today. went to put it away and missed it by that much. been driving to many short ones.