WALSH ANNOUNCES CONTRACT AWARD FOR SYRACUSE VAMC EXPANSION

Phase I Garage Expansion Set to Begin Shortly

(Syracuse, N.Y.)- Congressman Jim Walsh today announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded a construction contract for Phase I – additional extension to the parking garage – of the Spinal Cord Injury Center project at the Syracuse VA Medical Center.

The contract was awarded to Diverse Construction Group LLC, of Redwood, New York, in the amount of $10,248,000.  Funding was appropriated in Fiscal Year 2005 by Congressman Walsh. 

Phase I will construct two additional levels of parking on the existing parking structure, adding a total of 274 parking spaces to the garage and allowing for construction of the Spinal Cord Injury Center addition in Phase II of the project.

Over several federal fiscal years, Walsh secured $77.7 million for the new six-story, 108,000 square foot addition to the medical center that will accommodate a newly-established SCI Center, the relocation and expansion of operating room facilities, and various affiliated outpatient programs.  The project was expanded last year to include these generous, fully accessible parking facilities, connecting walkway and elevator.

Through Walsh’s leadership, the Syracuse VAMC resumed and constructed a new 24/7 emergency room, built a new handicapped-accessible main entrance, rehabbed its clinical care facility, introduced a women’s health center, added an in-house MRI Center, and established eight community based outpatient care clinics in the Central New York region. 

In addition to facility improvements, care at the facility has been elevated, and the Syracuse VA now rates #1 in all of VISN 2 and in the top 5% of all VA facilities across the country in patient satisfaction scores.

Phase I of the project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2009.  A contract award for construction of Phase II, the Spinal Cord Injury Center, is anticipated in FY 2009. 

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