Veterans' Administration facilities as of Nov. 30, 1939 Amarillo, Tex.. American, Lake Wash.. Footnotes continued on next page. Veterans' Administration facilities as of Nov. 30, 1939-Continued Gulfport, Miss. Huntington, W. Va.. Indianapolis, Ind. See footnotes at end of table, Estimated date for completion of 2 continuous treatment buildings January 1, 1940. 94 percent completed. Construction of 2 new continuous treatment buildings completed November 30, Leased. Capacity to be increased by 2 beds about December 13, 1939. Estimated date for completion of new general facility August 29, 1940. 35 per- 63 beds added to domiciliary capacity November 20, 1939. Construction of new neuropsychiatric facility (387 beds) completed November 19 beds added to capacity November 20, 1939. 5 beds added to capacity November 29, 1939. Facility reports 69 beds in building 34 unavailable until about January 1, 1940, due to construction activities. Construction of new infirmary building completed December 2, 1939, but beds Construction of new infirmary building (255 beds) completed but beds have not Facility reports 2 beds unavailable until December 10, 1939, due to use of space Facility reports 40 beds unavailable until February 1, 1940, due to remodeling of ward. Alterations to building 3 will result in gain of 13 beds about February 1, 1940. Additional beds to be acquired through new construction and readjustment of space about April 1, 1940. See footnotes at end of table. Veterans' Administration facilities as of Nov. 30, 1939-Continued Facility reports 6 beds unavailable until April 1, 1940, due to structural changes. Facility reports 8 domiciliary beds unavailable until July 1, 1940, because of use of space for library. Estimated date for completion of new barracks (238 additional and 180 replacement beds) March 5, 1940. 77 percent completed. General remodeling of building 69 will result in gain of 6 beds about March 31, 1940. 1 Approved by Construction Service. Issued monthly by Budget and Statistics, Veteran's Administration. General HINES. Seventy-two thousand nine hundred and twentyfive are hospitalized or receiving domiciliary care in either Veterans' Administration facilities or in beds allotted by the Army, Navy, Public Health, Interior, and State or civilian institutions, but all of the beds are paid for by the Veterans' Administration. In our own institutions, we had 69,078. In addition to the 72,925 there are 5,746 veterans in State homes. Those in State homes are generally domiciliary cases, although in some of the State homes, particularly in Massachusetts, they have a sizable number of hospital beds where they also provide medical care. You will recall the last Congress increased the allotment to the States from $120 to $240 a year for that care and broadened the scope of the old law somewhat to include the hospitalization of those men if the State home had suitable facilities. Now, the facilities which we are now building will bring the total number of beds available to the Veterans' Administration, including those allotted by the Army, Navy, and Public Health, to over 85,000 beds. The program of additional beds The CHAIRMAN. Pardon me, General, but how many vacant beds do you have? General HINES. Very few, practically none, Mr. Chairman. I will say that practically every facility of the Veterans' Administration for hospitalization is being fully utilized or is better than 92 percent filled. The neuropsychiatric and the general hospitals have few vacant beds. There are vacancies in some of the tuberculous facilities and in some of the barracks. We have waiting lists at many of these institutions. We are, however, taking care of all the emergency cases. In other words, any man whose hospitalization cannot be deferred is taken care of promptly. During the summer months when sickness is not as prevalent and conditions throughout the country are better, these waiting lists go down but generally we have them all over. Mr. VOORHIS. General, excuse me for a minute, but you have now 72,925 beds; is that right? General HINES. On November 30, the capacity of our facilities was 72,410 beds, the 72,925 figure was our total institutional load, including patients in other Government hospitals. Mr. VOORHIS. I understood you to say you planned in a building program to bring that up to 84,000? General HINES. Yes; under the building that is now going on, either additions or new facilities, we will have within the year or probably a few months beyond the present year, over 85,000 beds. In other words, money has been allocated and made available for that purpose. Mr. VOORHIS. Does that mean 85,000 including the 5,746 in the State homes or exclusive of that? General HINES. No; that will be outside of State homes. Mr. VOORHIS. In other words, you are going to increase by 12,000 beds? General HINES. No; by about 9,000. We are utilizing approximately 3,000 beds in other Government hospitals. Now, a study of the Federal Board indicates that between now and 1949, without any change in the law, which does not contem 214844-40--15 |