New flooring. Updated nurse call systems and fire alarms. A renovated kitchen and expanded dining area.
These are some of the upgrades planned for the Missouri Veterans Home in St. James.
In April, then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announced that the Missouri Veterans Commission had secured a total of over $25 million from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for construction projects at three of Missouri’s veterans homes, including the St. James location.
Funding for the projects is part of the VA’s State Home Priority Construction Grant List for 2018.
The grant for the St. James veterans home totals $3,732,081.60 and will allow projects to be completed at the St. James home that were originally appropriated funding in fiscal year 2014-15 but were on hold until federal funding became available.
Missouri Veterans Commission public information coordinator Daniel Bell explained that the VA will cover up to 65 percent of the construction costs, while the state pays the other 35 percent.
“These updates will really modernize the facility,” Bell said.
A news release from the governor’s office when the announcement was made in April stated that projects at the St. James veterans home to be funded by the grant include renovations to the kitchen, flooring, walls, doors, bathrooms, nurse call systems and fire alarms.
“The kitchen will get new appliances, the bathroom will get updated fixtures and the dining room will be expanded, with a solarium built,” Bell said.
Construction could begin around the spring of 2019, according to Bell.
“This funding will go a long way toward supporting much-needed renovations and upkeep that these facilities need to best serve our veterans,” U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and daughter of a World War II veteran, stated in a news release about the announcement.
The veterans home in St. James, which is a 150-bed facility, is more than 20 years old. Built in 1996-97, the St. James location is the fourth oldest veterans home in Missouri.
The funding from the VA also includes a grant for about $8.7 million for the Cape Girardeau veterans home and two grants totaling $13.1 million for the St. Louis facility.
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