It’s at least eight years off, but a joint hospital that would serve both the Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense patients in Leavenworth took its first steps recently.
At a recent meeting of the Leavenworth-Lansing Area Chamber of Commerce Jim Gleisberg, public information officer for the Eisenhower VA Medical Center, said the Veterans Affairs Heartland network director had briefed the possibility of a joint VA and DOD hospital to the Veterans Health Administration’s capital asset board.
Now the project has been added to the board’s list of future projects — scheduled for 2018, at an estimated cost of $75 million.
Putting the facility on the list of future projects does not mean funding is allocated for it or even that it couldn’t be pushed back further, but Gleisberg did say it means the facility is being considered.
“That is the first of so many hurdles,” he said.
Gleisberg said he was not sure that the Department of Defense had even been officially approached yet. However, at this point he said a joint hospital is thought to be mutually beneficial. Munson Army Health Center would continue its current role as an outpatient facility on post and most other medical needs, including emergency services, would be handled at the joint facility.
“Right now they think that the numbers work out,” he said.
