Healthcare Design - April 2021 - 26

latory Care Center (Omaha, Neb.),
colored light streams down a long
corridor connecting the new facility to the existing Omaha VA Medical Center. Running the length of
the 157,000-square-foot addition's
western façade, the corridor's long
curtain wall of colored glass symbolizes the
" honor bars " earned by veterans and placed on
their lapels. " Everyone, whether you're a patient, a visitor, or even a provider, is reminded
daily of the veteran and the honor and respect
that they're due, " says Jonathan Fliege, senior
associate and director of design at Leo A Daly
(Omaha), which provided architectural, engineering, and interior design services for the
project. " You 'breathe' the color almost as you
pass through this space. "
The project not only represents a new outpatient facility for the VA but also marks the
first public-private partnership-funded VA
healthcare facility in the nation to be delivered since Congress passed the Communities
Helping Invest through Property and Improvements Needed (CHIP IN) for Veterans
Act of 2016. " The CHIP IN for Vets Act allowed
for private funds to be grouped with VA dollars
to get a project executed, " says Jeffrey Monzu,
vice president, senior project manager, at Leo
A Daly (Omaha).
Built in the late 1940s, the original Omaha VA
Medical Center was long overdue for replacement but kept getting put on hold due to other
priorities. Recognizing the need to expand
healthcare access for the area's 40,000 underserved veterans, a local donor group sought to
utilize the CHIP IN program and formed the

26

APRIL 2021

TOP: The new ambulatory
center ties to the main
campus of the Omaha VA
Medical Center through a
first-floor connector along
the western side of the
facility. ABOVE: Natural
stone and wood materials provide a neutral
backdrop for the project's
colorful " ribbon wall. "

nonprofit Veterans Ambulatory Care Development Corp. (VACDC). The
VACDC went on to raise $30 million to supplement $56 million already
allocated by the VA for a replacement project (the group oversaw distribution of the funds as well as construction).
While the total funding-a combined $86 million-wasn't enough to
construct a full hospital, it was used to build a new three-story outpatient
center, which opened in August 2020. " Not unlike private healthcare,
the VA has spent resources in the last several years improving outpatient
services and their network of community-based outpatient clinics. This
approach gives more opportunities for veterans to access primary, preventive, and mental healthcare, thus improving their general health and
reducing the need for more critical and intensive inpatient care and procedures, " Monzu says.
While the former set-up had the VA's dated outpatient clinics spread
throughout the 12-story hospital, making them difficult to navigate, the

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Healthcare Design - April 2021

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