History | VA Syracuse Health Care | Veterans Affairs

SYRACUSE VA MEDICAL CENTER SYRACUSE VA TIMELINE 1953 - 2021 2023        Mark Murdock, MHA, FACHE Named Director  2019        Air Handler Unit 03 & 08 replacements 2019        Air Handler

Unit 05 replacements 2019        Parking garage 8th floor slab replacement 2019        Rome Women's Clinic opens 2019        Open Whole health area 2019        6C Ortho / Medical /

Surgical Ward renovation 2019        TSS / Logistics Renovation 2019        Community living Center Outdoor living space construction 2019        CAT Scan Power Reliability Upgrade 2018

        Canteen Kitchen renovation 2018        Chiller plant Switchgear replacement 2017        New Binghamton Clinic Relocation 2016         Parapet roof repair 2016         6B Medical /

Surgical Ward renovation 2016         Team RED/BLUE check in areas renovated 2016         Combined Heat & Power project 2016         Canteen Store remodel 2015          Syracuse

Woman's Clinic wing opens 2015          Community living Center bathrooms renovation 2015          VA Police Station construction 2015          Compensation & Pension Dept.

Renovation 2015          Audiology Department renovation 2013/14    Constructing Intensive Care Unit and floors 2013          Held 60th Anniversary, Formal Opening of Spinal Cord

                   Injury/Disorder Center and 6 Story Addition 2012          Prosthetics Renovated, Relocated Dental Clinic to Erie Blvd,                   Expanded Pharmacy 2011         

Relocated Cardiology, Renovated Chapel 2010          New Psychiatric Inpatient Unit; Renovated 5 East & West     2009           Relocated Behavioral Health Outpatient Clinic to Erie

Blvd,                    Relocated Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Service 2008/11     Completed Interior Renovation Projects (Angioplasty,                    Histology, Low Vision,

ICU Bathrooms, Canteen, Speech Path.) 2008           Added 2 floors to Parking Garage 2005           Opened New Heart Catheterization Area  2004            Completed New Main Entrance,

Renovated 1 South,                     Completed New MRI/Imaging area, Opened Valor Inn 2003/05      Renovated Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Service  2003            Held 50th

Anniversary Celebration, Built New Emergency                     Department 2001            Renovated Veterans Service Center 2001            Opened Tompkins/Cortland County (Freeville)

                      Community Based Outpatient Clinic  2000            Numerous patient care projects throughout medical center 2000             James Cody, MPA, FACHE Named Director  

2000             Opened of Auburn Community Based Outpatient Clinic 1999             Added 2 floors to Parking Garage, Renovated Veterans                      Canteen Service 1999

             Opened Oswego Community Based Outpatient Clinic 1997             Opened New Eye Clinic on 2nd FL 1997             Opened Binghamton Community Based Outpatient Clinic 1995

             Opened Rome Community Based Outpatient Clinic  1994/99       Philip P. Thomas Named Director 1993             Opened of Massena Community Based Outpatient Clinic  1993

             Opened Watertown Community Based Outpatient Clinic 1992             Completed New Community Care Center  1989             Garage Structure Built, Fire and Safety Improvements,

                     Patient Privacy, added Air Conditioning 1985/93       Replaced Windows, Built 50 bed Nursing Home, Opened                      New CAT Scan Unit 1982             

Completed Electric Modernization Project 1980/94        Clyde B. Corsaro Named Director 1978              Held 25th Anniversary Celebration 1977              Remodeled Veterans Canteen

Service 1972/79        Wayne E. Sarius Named Director 1970/72        Milton Michael, Jr. Named Director 1969/70        Alan W. Chadwick Named Director 1964              Research Wing Added

1962/69        Morris C. Thomas, MD Named Director 1963 -            Held 10th Anniversary Celebration 1956/62        John Bosler Named Director 1956              Treated over 12,000 area

Veteran Patients by January 1956 1954              Expanded  Special Diseases Research Area 1954/56        George O. Pratt Named Director 1953              Held Dedication Ceremony on June

14 1953              Received first Veteran patient on June 10 : 21 year old                       Edward L. Danquer, Jr. 1952/54        Ralph S. Metheny Named Director 1951             

First Flag Raised on February 7 1949              Official Ground breaking on December 8 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (VHA) Today’s Veterans Health Administration

(VHA) originated during the Civil War as the first federal hospitals and domiciliaries ever established for the nation’s volunteer military forces. NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEER

SOLDIERS (1865-1930) Eastern Branch National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Togus, Maine, 1891. On March 3, 1865, a month before the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln

authorized the first-ever national soldiers’ and sailors’ asylum to provide medical and convalescent care for discharged members of the Union Army and Navy volunteer forces. The asylum was

the first of its kind in the world to provide civilian medical care to Veterans of temporary volunteer forces. Two earlier soldiers’ homes, operated by the U.S. Army and Navy for Veterans of

the Regular military forces, were very small and housed only up to 300 men each. The National Homes housed ten of thousands of Veterans. The National Homes were often called “soldiers’

homes” or “military homes.” Initially only Civil War soldiers and sailors who served honorably with the Union forces—including U.S. Colored Troops—were eligible for admittance. The first

National Home, now VA’s oldest hospital, opened near Augusta, Maine, on November 1, 1866. They provided medical care and long-term housing for thousands of Civil War Veterans. Many programs

and processes begun at the National Homes continue at VHA today. They were the first to accept women Veterans for medical care and hospitalization beginning in 1923. By 1929, the National

Homes had grown to 11 institutions that spanned the country. All of the original National Homes have operated continuously since they opened. Hospital, Central Branch, National Home for

Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Dayton, Ohio, 1912. BUREAU OF WAR RISK INSURANCE, PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, & FEDERAL BOARD OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (1917-1922) For nearly five years three

separate federal programs, two of which were under the Treasury Department, provided benefits exclusively to World War I Veterans. In 1921, the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, Public Health

Service Veterans’ hospitals, and Rehabilitation Division of the Federal Board of Vocational Education were consolidated to form one agency. VETERANS BUREAU (1921-1930) On August 9, 1921,

Congress created the Veterans Bureau by combining three World War I Veterans programs into one bureau. The Veterans Bureau and National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers worked

cooperatively to provide medical care to all Veterans at this time. World War I was the first fully mechanized war and soldiers exposed to mustard gas and other chemicals required

specialized care. Tuberculosis and neuro-psychiatric hospitals opened to accommodate Veterans with respiratory or mental health problems. Native Americans who served in World War I were

authorized, for the first time in history, to apply for American citizenship due to a law enacted on November 6, 1919, making them eligible for full Veterans benefits, including health care.

The first segregated federal Veterans hospital opened under the Veterans Bureau on February 12, 1923, in Tuskegee, Alabama. In 1924, Veterans’ benefits were liberalized for the second time

in history to cover disabilities that were not service-related. In 1928, admission to Veterans Bureau hospitals and National Homes was fully extended to women, National Guard, and militia

Veterans. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION (1930-1989) The second consolidation of federal Veterans programs took place on July 21, 1930 when President Herbert Hoover consolidated the Veterans Bureau

with the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and Pension Bureau and re-designated it as the Veterans Administration. General Frank Hines, Director of the Veterans Bureau since

1923, became the first Administrator of the VA. His tenure lasted 22 years and ended in 1945 when General Omar Bradley took the helm. In 1930, VA consisted of 45 hospitals. By 1945, the

number had more than doubled to 97. World War II ushered in a new era of expanded Veterans’ benefits through the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly referred to as the “G.I.

bill", which was signed into law on June 22, 1944. General Omar Bradley took the reins at VA in 1945 and steered its transformation into a modern organization. In 1946, the Department

of Medicine and Surgery was established within VA. VA was able to recruit and retain top medical personnel by modifying the Civil Service system. The first women doctors were hired in 1946.

When Bradley left in 1947, there were 125 VA hospitals. Dr. Paul Magnuson, a VA orthopedic surgeon and Chief Medical Director, 1948-1951, led the charge to create an affiliation program with

America’s medical schools for medical research and training purposes. By 1948, 60 medical schools were affiliated with VA hospitals. Over the years, these collaborations resulted in

groundbreaking advances in medicine, nursing, medical research, and prosthetics. In the post-World War II period, 90 new and replacement Veterans hospitals were planned, but many were later

shelved, when VA’s budget was cut to help fund U.S. Cold War programs. During the 1950s VA’s cooperative research studies led to discoveries about cancer, diabetes, chemotherapy, nuclear

medicine, and helped to diminish the spread of tuberculosis. The first-ever successful human liver transplant operation took place at the Denver VA Medical Center in May 1963 under Dr.

Thomas Starzl. In 1977, two VA doctors, Dr. Rosalyn Yalow (Bronx VAMC) and Dr. Andrew Schally (New Orleans VAMC) received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in

developing radioimmunoassay of peptide hormones. Dr. Ferid Murad (Palo Alto VAMC) received a Nobel Prize in 1998 for his discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the

cardiovascular system. Many modern medical advances originated as trials or experiments in VA hospitals and now benefit patients of all types worldwide. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (SINCE

1989) The VA was elevated to a Cabinet-level Executive Department by President Ronald Reagan in October 1988. The change took full effect on March 15, 1989, when the Veterans Administration

was renamed as the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA’s first Secretary after the elevation, Ed Derwinski, insisted that the “VA” acronym be retained since it have been a familiar part of

American culture for more than 50 years VA’s Department of Medicine and Surgery was re-designated as the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration, as part of the elevation, and

on May 7, 1991, was renamed as the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest of three administrations that comprise the U.S. Department of

Veterans Affairs. VHA’s primary mission is to provide medical care and services to America’s military Veterans. VHA operates one of the largest health care systems in the world and provides

training for a majority of America’s medical, nursing, and allied health professionals. Roughly 60% of all medical residents obtain a portion of their training at VA hospitals and our

medical research programs benefit society at-large. Today’s VHA has roots spanning over 150 years and continues to meet Veterans’ changing medical, surgical, and quality of life needs. New

programs provide treatment for traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide prevention, women Veterans, and more. In recent years VHA has opened more outpatient clinics,

established telemedicine, vet centers, and suicide prevention hotlines, and developed other services to accommodate a diverse and ever-changing Veteran population. VHA continually evolves

and cultivates on-going cutting-edge medical research and innovation to improve the lives of America’s patriots.