Starting April 6,, veterans and anyone who visits the Erie Veterans Medical Center will be directed through a new entrance while construction work and renovations continue through the rest of the year.
As the $18.5 million expansion of the Erie VA continues, people will be asked to enter through new doors as renovations begins its next phase.
Rob Petrone, the Assistant Chief of Facility Management Services at the Erie VA Medical Center, said, “We are going to relocate the entrance veterans use to our current urgent care clinic, which is a little further west of their current entrance.”
Starting this weekend, crew members will begin removing part of the curbs for the expansion, which will affect current traffic patterns.
“We are also going to change some of the driving and parking arrangements. However, we have made arrangements for our second-floor entrance to alleviate some of the impact. This weekend, we are going to begin tearing out some of the curbs and changing the traffic patterns out front. It should be a pretty minor inconvenience to veterans, really just shortening the distance they are driving. Parking in the front won’t change”, said Petrone.
Part one of the addition is expected to wrap up in December, and the next part of the renovations will take another year to complete. Officials said these changes will help improve how they care for veterans at the Medical Center.
“It’s actually going to bring modernized healthcare to veterans, a new, modern approach to the way the VA has been envisioning primary care and healthcare”, explained Petrone.
This project will include an 11,000-square-foot expansion and 9,000 square feet of renovations. The clinic will feature new medical equipment, 37 exam rooms, and expanded support areas.