History | VA Oklahoma City Health Care | Veterans Affairs

> Clinical addition under construction, September 22, 1982. Source: > Oklahoma Historical Society By the end of the 1970s, the Oklahoma City Veteran Administration Medical Center (OKC

VAMC), was caring for Veterans from two world wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War (1955-1975). Recognizing the need for more space, an initiative to build a new clinical addition began

and was completed in 1984. A corridor connecting the VA hospital with its neighboring affiliate institutions was also constructed which proved to be a major improvement in ambulatory care.

That was just the beginning of several renovations and additions that took place within the next decade. In 1986, Mr. Steven Gentling, was appointed director and with the new leadership came

new improvement initiatives. The same year saw the addition of a new 10,500 square foot Health Wing and three years later another 5,500 square feet were added to the research facility. Six

other wards were also updated and modernized. By 1994 a state-of-the-art 100,000 square foot operating suite was constructed to replace the original 1950s surgical rooms. The last years of

the 20th century saw several more additions including a 40-bed Extended Care Unit, the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neuro-degenerative Diseases Oklahoma program, a 14-room “Hoptel” for

patients who live farther away but need extended care such as chemotherapy, and the purchase of the Friendship House, a long-term residential treatment facility for unhoused Veterans. While

the OKC VAMC was growing to meet Veteran needs, it knew its reach was limited and an initiative began to extend its services to the surrounding areas. During the late 1980s satellite

outpatient clinics in rural sections of western Oklahoma began when a temporary clinic opened in Lawton at their county hospital. By 1994, they moved to a newly constructed clinic on Fort

Sill Army Base adjacent to the Reynolds Army Hospital. Another clinic opened in 1990, this time in Wichita Falls, Texas to serve the Veterans of southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. Today,

the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System (OKC VAHCS) has grown its community outpatient clinics to a total of fifteen in Ada, Altus, Ardmore, Blackwell, Enid, Norman, North Oklahoma City,

South Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Stillwater, Wichita Falls, and Yukon. In addition to these clinics, the OKC VAHCS also has DoD partnership with clinics on Fort Sill Army Base and Tinker Air

Force Base. Another major change occurred during the late 1980s when the OKC VAMC was designated as a regional coordinating center working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

during civil disasters or conventional warfare. As one of 75 centers selected in the region, the OKC VAMC charted community inpatient beds for emergency programs and was the primary

coordinating resource with FEMA. When the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed, killing 168 people, on April 19, 1995, the OKC VAMC sprang into action by deploying a triage team to

the bombing site, providing medical supplies, taking in casualties, and sending clinicians to area hospitals to support their efforts during one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks in

our nation’s history.