LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2013 Department of Veterans Affairs’ officials celebrated the opening of two mental health facilities with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 28 at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center campus in Long Beach.<\/p>\n
The mental health buildings \u2013 constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Los Angeles District and its contractors \u2013 include an 80,000-square-foot outpatient facility and an 82,000-square-foot, 40-bed inpatient facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis day marks the start of a new era in mental health services at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System,\u201d said Walt Dannenberg, VA Long Beach Medical Center director. \u201cIt is an honor for us to renew our commitment to serve veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Long Beach VA Mental Health System treats more than 20,000 veterans annually for mental health conditions.<\/p>\n
U.S. Marine veteran Christopher Scott Louie, who served from 2008 to 2012, including a deployment to Afghanistan, provided special remarks during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis center represents not just a structure, but a commitment to the wellbeing of the veterans and customers with the support and care we all try to provide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After arriving at the Long Beach VA in 2012, Louie said he began prioritizing his mental health, which also led to a passion for dog training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lessons I learned along the way have not only guided my professional path, but have also enriched my relationship with my wife, kids and my family,\u201d he said, choking back tears. \u201cFor all of you here today, it is truly an honor to speak on behalf of those who have served and sacrificed for our country. Thank you for your dedication, compassion and supporting our veterans. Together, let us continue to foster a culture of healing and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials broke ground on the mental health facilities on Veterans Day \u2013 Nov. 11, 2018. The groundbreaking ceremony coincided with the medical center\u2019s eighth annual Veterans Day celebration, which also commemorated 100 years since the end of World War I.<\/p>\n
Kevin Thomas, resident engineer with the USACE Los Angeles District\u2019s Long Beach VA office, said this was the first project that USACE collaborated on with the Department of Veterans Affairs Construction and Facilities Management.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a safety standpoint, this project became the model for how we manage safety on mega projects, not only in the Los Angeles District, but across the entire U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,\u201d said Chris Rainwater, former chief of USACE Los Angeles District\u2019s Safety and Occupational Health Office. \u201cWe implemented some innovative techniques \u2013 a true emphasis on partnership and collaboration, far beyond words, ensuring that a safety standard was enforced, and a safety culture was established. That has been revolutionary across the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We are very proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philip Serpa Jr., senior project manager with USACE Los Angeles District\u2019s Long Beach VA office, has worked on the project since USACE awarded the contract in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of hands have been on this project \u2013 a lot of hard work; a lot of effort,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a culmination of that \u2013 two beautiful buildings. It\u2019s just a testament of the hard work for USACE and its partners with VA.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Long Beach VA Healthcare System currently serves more than 50,000 veterans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is for them (the veterans),\u201d Serpa said. \u201cThese facilities will serve them for many years now. I am very grateful to have worked on these from the very beginning and very happy that they are going to be used.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consolidating the Long Beach VA mental health care facilities into two buildings will make it faster and easier for veterans to locate the services they need, said Dr. Larry Albers, chief of psychiatry and mental health at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, who spoke during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the veterans in attendance: \u2018Welcome home.\u2019\u201d Albers said. \u201cThank you for your service. You are appreciated and deserve the highest quality care, and that is our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
USACE Los Angeles District also is working on a three-story, 181,000-square-foot Community Living Center at the VA Long Beach campus, which is designed to facilitate medical care for veterans in need of additional support, particularly aging veterans. The Community Living Center will be a 120-bed facility consisting of 10 patient units with 12 beds each. Once the new center is complete, USACE will demolish the existing Community Living Center at the campus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2013 Department of Veterans Affairs’ officials celebrated the opening of two mental health facilities with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-114225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}