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Tampa's VA Hospital Expansion Should Cure Parking Woes

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 21, 2008

TAMPA - The James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital has a people and parking problem: too many people and not enough parking.

The nation's busiest VA hospital averages 6,000 outpatient visits a day and is on pace to serve 1 million visitors this year. It has just 2,600 parking spaces, nearly a third of those at a nearby shopping mall.

But hospital officials say they have a plan, and relief is on the way. Veterans should see significant change by next year.

Two major services – the outpatient pharmacy and the eye clinic – are moving off campus to new buildings being constructed about a mile away. The existing pharmacy fills about 3,400 prescriptions a day, and the eye clinic, which is open Monday through Saturday, receives about 100 visits a day, said Carolyn Clark, a hosptial spokeswoman.

The pharmacy, which will offer drive-through service, is expected to be open by March, and the new 21,000-square-foot eye clinic is estimated for completion in April.

By late 2009, a new six-story, 1,500-space parking garage should open on Haley's main campus as part of a planned $190 million expansion to its Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center.

That will give the hospital about 3,500 parking spaces on-site with an additional 600 spaces available at University Mall.

"It should take care of parking issues," said Verana Richardson, administrative officer for hospital director Stephen Lucas. "We've been waiting over 20 years for a parking garage."

The changes don't stop there.

By late 2011, officials expect to open an outpatient primary care annex – a 120,000-square-foot facility – within three to five miles of the main hospital. Some outpatient services will remain at the main hospital, Richardson said, but the annex should greatly reduce congestion.

A second 50,000-square-foot outpatient annex is planned for south Hillsborough County. Officials are scouting possible sites in Ruskin, Apollo Beach, south Brandon and Riverview. That facility could open by 2010.

"We're trying to attract new veterans," Richardson said. "We have so many veterans coming home."

The hospital also is making improvements to existing care offered on its main campus, such as building a $7 million, 9,000-square-foot in-patient mental health facility that should be finished in March.

The polytrauma center expansion includes 150,000 square feet of new space to provide rehabilitative care to veterans with severe injuries, including brain trauma. The additional space is expected to be available by 2010.

An additional 56 beds also are being added to the center, and three floors designated for in-patient care in the existing tower are being renovated. The renovation includes single-patient bedrooms, which Richardson said is an important upgrade.

"There aren't many hospitals where you can have your own room," she said.

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915.

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