SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – South Pacific Division partners with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide medical facilities for our nation’s heroes in four different states. Veterans’ affairs facilities in northern California serve more than 377,700 veterans spanning a wide geographic area of approximately 40,000 square miles.
The mission of SPD’s DVA program is a commitment to deliver high quality medical facilities for their Veterans through collaboration and combined expertise in an environment of mutual respect, open communication, and aligned expectations.
SPD takes this mission seriously and is currently leading the way in DVA program delivery for the Corps of Engineers including recent projects Spinal Cord Injury/Community Living Center in San Diego, CA. and a Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Stockton, CA.
David Van Dorpe, chief of SPD’s DVA Project Execution Office and with the Corps of Engineers for 28 years, knows the critical needs that projects like community outpatient clinic meet.
“There are more than 20,000 veterans that will be using this new facility that were formerly traveling as far as San Francisco or Sacramento to have their appointments met,” says Van Dorpe. “Things like dental and eye exams.”
The $200 million clinic opened in April and includes a 150,000 square-foot community living center with 120 beds and an engineering and logistics support facility.
In San Diego, the VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury/Community Living Center project, which is replacing a building at an existing campus at the San Diego VA Medical, will be a 197,000-square-foot, four-story standalone structure, consisting of 50 private inpatient rooms for spinal cord injury patients; 33 beds for patients in the Community Living Center; as well as outpatient and therapy clinics.
The facility will also be the newest of more than 20 spinal cord injury and disorder facilities at VA centers throughout the U.S. and is scheduled to open its doors to veterans in late spring 2025, providing care to veterans and active-duty personnel, who live in the San Diego and Imperial counties in California, and in Arizona and southern Nevada.
While these two projects are significant, they only comprise a piece of the larger veteran construction footprint for the division.
“Currently, the South Pacific Division and its districts are working on eight, major and seismic construction projects within our boundaries,” Van Dorpe.
Upcoming projects include a Long Beach, CA outpatient mental health facility and a community living center, and historic building reconstruction in San Francisco, CA. among others (see infographic). The current SPD DVA program, which is projected at $1.3B - $5.6B over the next 5 – 9 years, is committed to the constructing quality facilities for America’s veterans and Van Dorpe knows well the impact and importance the program has on the nation’s veterans.
“I've worked on military projects to support our war fighters, and I can tell you that the veterans’ program is extremely rewarding to work on,” says Van Dorpe.
“It it's a noble cause to support those who have given so much for this nation,” adds Van Dorpe. “And providing them with enhanced facilities and state-of-the-art facilities for their medical care-- it really resonates in your heart,”.