June 21, 2024 4:10 a.m.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, alongside U.S. Representative Val Hoyle have urged the Department of Veterans Affairs to urgently prioritize the application and funding for the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs Roseburg Veterans’ Home project in Fiscal Year 2025.
A joint release said currently ODVA operates two veterans’ homes: The Oregon Veteran’s Home in The Dalles and the Edward C. Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon. These facilities provide skilled and long-term nursing, memory, and rehabilitative care to veterans, their spouses, and Gold-Star parents, allowing veterans to live in a culture of community with fellow veterans and those with shared military experiences.
In their letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, the lawmakers detailed that the two current Oregon veterans’ homes are lauded as national models for state-run veterans’ homes. Together, the lawmakers are calling for significant federal support for a third veterans’ home of this kind to be constructed in Roseburg to meet the critical needs of Oregon veterans in rural Douglas County and the surrounding area.
The letter from Merkley, Wyden and Hoyle said, “While Oregon is fortunate to have two state veterans’ homes, the state has been working diligently toward a third veterans’ home – to be constructed in Roseburg, Oregon – for over a decade. This home is needed now more than ever”, the lawmakers wrote.
The release said a new facility in the community would provide an affordable, high-quality, long-term care option for the estimated 68,000 veterans across the VA Southern Oregon service area, which includes Jackson, Josephine, Klamath and Lake counties in Oregon as well as Siskiyou and Del Norte counties in California.
Earlier this year, the project secured $35 million from the Oregon State Legislature and awaits the remaining $65 million needed from the VA.
The lawmakers concluded by saying, “We urge you to move quickly and raise the status of the Roseburg Veterans’ Home…so that it will be competitive for funding in Fiscal Year 2025. This would enable our state to fulfill its promise to meet the needs of veterans in Southern Oregon and honor their service to our nation”.
The full text of the letter is linked: https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/24.06.17-LETTER-Roseburg-Veterans-Home-USDVA.pdf
Senator Jeff Merkley talked about building an Oregon Veterans’ Home in Roseburg as part of the Morning Conversation Thursday on News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN. That interview is a KQEN Podcast at www.541radio.com