The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded a $26 million contract to a San Francisco firm to construct a new 80-bed acute psychiatric facility at the VA's Palo Alto Health Care System in California.
"Not all the wounds of war are visible," said Gerald Cross, MD, the VA's Acting Under Secretary for Health. "This new facility will ensure the veterans of central California receive 21st Century care for their mental health needs."
The contract provides nearly $26 million to McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., to replace an old, seismically unsafe building in Palo Alto. The 70,000-square-foot facility also will care for acute psychiatry patients now treated at the VA's Menlo Park campus.
Last year, the VA spent nearly $7.3 billion in California on behalf of the state's 2 million veterans. The VA operates 10 major medical centers in the state, as well as 50 outpatient clinics, 22 vet centers and eight national cemeteries.