NEW VETERANS’ CLINIC AND nursing home coming to Sumter

It’s been almost two years since Sumter County Council approved a rezoning for a future veterans’ nursing home facility, and it’s been about two years since funding was announced for a future veterans’ clinic in Sumter.

Today, those projects have projected opening dates in fall 2023 and summer 2024.

“It’s pretty much in completion; they’re just doing the inside, stocking it and getting the employees together,” said Valerie Brunson, Sumter County Veterans’ Affairs director, about the new clinic.

Local veterans have been asking about the two facilities, eager to start using the clinic while others are looking to move into the nursing home. Sumter County is home to more than 16,000 veterans, according to Brunson.

“That’s a bigger project — a much bigger project. That’s not going to be complete until 2024 for that,” Brunson said about the nursing home. “We’re almost there with the clinic, and that’s a federal VA, and that should be open within two months. As far as the nursing home, that’s a huge project, and that’s a state project.”

With many airmen and soldiers at Shaw Air Force Base, which houses the 20th Fighter Wing, U.S. Air Forces Central and U.S. Army Central, many retired military members who remain in Sumter after their active service can look forward to health care access right at their back door.

“These new VA facilities will play a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of life and wellbeing of our veterans and their families,” said South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter. “Sumter is a proud, patriotic community, and I cannot think of a better place to make comprehensive care more available to our veteran population. I look forward to the positive impact these projects will have for years to come in the area.”

Sumter VA Clinic

At 245 Bultman Drive, near Sumter Mall and across from Sumter’s Social Security Administration building, sits the new state-of-the-art Sumter VA Clinic that is near completion.

The current veterans clinic in Sumter, at 407 N. Salem Ave., outgrew the number of patients it could serve. The purpose of the new facility will be to expand operations and also better serve area veterans.

“The Sumter VA Clinic, an extension of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Dorn VA Medical Center health care network, extends the earned medical treatment benefits of the Veterans Health Administration services to the deserving veteran community in Sumter,” Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Todd McCaffrey said. “Veteran Administration clinics sustain the health care benefit earned by qualified veterans and meet veteran populations where they live to meet many of their health care needs.”

According to Wyatt Anthony, public affairs specialist of the Columbia VA Health Care System, the community-based outpatient clinic facility will be 26,228 square feet and open in late 2023.

The facility cost $6,066,360 to construct and was funded by the Veteran Integrated Service Network, Anthony said.

About 46 staff members will operate the Sumter VA Clinic. This includes the 20 staff working at the existing clinic with 26 additional employees, he said. The services provided will be primary care, mental health and physical medicine and rehabilitative services.

State of South Carolina Veterans’ Nursing Home in Sumter

Going up North Wise Drive, past Dillon Park but before reaching Sumter County Airport, is a long, dirt driveway leading to the future State of South Carolina Veterans’ Nursing Home.

The large facility is under construction on more than 70 acres at 915 N. Wise Drive, with more than half of the work complete. According to Tracy LaPointe, director of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health’s Public Information Office, the facility is projected to open by summer 2024 as a 104-bed facility.

In 2019, SCDHM was directed to make a recommendation for a future location to place a state veterans’ nursing home facility in the central part of the state.

“Because Richland County already has a fully functioning veterans’ nursing home (E. Roy Stone Pavilion at CM Tucker Nursing Care Center) capable of providing nursing home services to the VA residents living in and around Richland County community, Sumter was selected as the central site location,” she said.

In total, the project cost $71.4 million, a combination of federal money from the U.S. Veterans Administration and state matching money, LaPointe said. Veterans Administration approved $28.8 million in reimbursable money, and SCDMH received $42.6 million for the project in its fiscal year 2022 appropriations.

LaPointe said SCDMH intends to start the procurement process to select a private operator for the facility in September.

When open, residents will reside in either single- or double-occupancy rooms. The facility is planned to have a chapel, barber shop, activities room, bistro, physical therapy room and pharmacy.

“State veteran nursing homes provide eligible veterans the residential care of professional nursing and custodial care staff when they or their primary caregivers are no longer able to provide the requisite assistance at home,” McCaffrey said. “The Sumter facility is a further example of South Carolina’s appreciation and investment in sustaining veteran quality of life in our state. With nearly 400,000 veterans living in our state, nearly 45% over the age of 65, state veteran nursing homes extend a degree of comfort and dignity closer to home and honors that veteran’s service to the nation, often in their time of greatest need.”

According to LaPointe, eligibility for admission into a State Veterans Nursing Home are as follows: a veteran served active duty with an honorable discharge, a veteran has been a resident of South Carolina for the previous 12 months, and a veteran meets Veterans Administration criteria for skilled or intermediate nursing home care. The operator of the facility will handle all admission requests.