VA awards $2.3 million in grants for home-based care, mental health hirings

June 01--A pair of grants worth more than $2 million have been awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs to boost home-based care and hire new staffers specializing in mental health care to aid veterans in the north country.

The first, worth $1.6 million, will create a new Home Based Primary Care team in Watertown that will provide services around Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. The team will be tasked with providing care to veterans with chronic and disabling conditions that need care beyond in-office doctor appointments.

The team includes a physician, a nurse practitioner, a psychologist, registered nurses and LPNs, a physical therapist, a speech therapist, a social worker, a dietician and a pharmacist.

Kathy Gorman, the team's program director, said the team fits with the highly rural nature of the region.

"The VA's ability to provide home care to this population may be the only option many of these veterans have for medical and mental health care," she said in an emailed statement. "The HBPC program's goal is to provide services to veterans with barriers to access."

A second grant, worth approximately $700,000, will expand the VA's mental health care in Watertown by hiring six new staffers.

A full-time psychiatrist and a second professional have already been hired, according to VA spokesman Robert McLean, and two others are nearly through the hiring process.

The VA, in a news release, said veterans interested in the home-based program or potential job applicants for the team can contact them at 315-425-4301.

The new grant initiatives are in addition to the major spending at the VA's newly opened clinic at 144 Eastern Blvd., Watertown.

Operator Sterling Medical Associates spent $1.6 million to convert the former roller rink into an 11,000-square-foot, single-floor space.

The funding comes as the VA looks to improve its standing with local veterans. The VA's own statistics show operations in Watertown and Syracuse had some of the worst delay rates in the state.

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