WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Veterans Affairs Healthcare System this week celebrated the completion of a $16 million, 24,000-square-foot renovation of a medical surgical unit at the White River Junction VA Medical Center.
The upgrade aims to provide accessible, modern health care for veterans, and make “the actual experience of being in the hospital as pleasant as possible,“ said Dr. Brett Rusch, the executive director of the White River Junction location.
While the unit, which covers the second floor of its building, previously looked and felt like a “40-year-old dormitory,” it now is a “state-of-the-art medical unit,” Rusch said.
Except for trauma, open heart surgery or open skull surgery, staff on the floor provide most types of specialty medical and surgical treatment, Rusch said. The facility performs an average of around 1,700 to 1,800 surgical cases per year, spokesperson Katherine Tang said in an email.
Beginning in December 2023, the Colchester, Vt.-based Engelberth Construction company took the building “down to (the) studs,” optimizing square footage to maximize beds while creating space for movement around the unit, Rusch said.
As part of the renovation, the number of total beds in the unit decreased from about 42 to 37, Greg Auch, nurse manager of the medical surgical unit, said.
“Sacrificing a few beds, to reach the 37 beds now, allows us to break things apart to single rooms and a couple double-occupancy just to create a better experience,” Auch said.
The increased space also allows patients to receive more of their care within their rooms.
For example, there is space for in-room chest X-rays and bedside cardiograms, Auch said. Additionally physical therapy and fold-out couches for family members are moving into rooms, Rusch said.
Each individual room now also has its own temperature controls, Auch said.
Four nurse stations are now distributed across the floor to be as close to veterans as possible, in contrast to being centralized in two centers as they previously were, Rusch said.
Additionally, ceiling lifts that carry patients and could previously only go the length of certain rooms can now maneuver across the entirety of each room and into bathrooms, VA interior designer Kaitie Gillespie said.
Throughout the nearly two-year project, the facility was able to keep beds operational by working on one half at a time, Rusch said. Half of the beds moved downstairs during the construction, which was originally office space, Tang said.
The first half opened about six months ago, Rusch said.
The unit will fully open for patients in about two weeks, Gillespie said.