Director discusses changes coming to Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center

Muskogee Phoenix (OK)

Dec. 30—Muskogee's Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center will shift its focus to geriatric and mental health patients when a new veterans hospital is built in Tulsa.

On Sunday, President Trump signed a law approving $120 million toward the Tulsa hospital, to be built by 2024. The new hospital will include inpatient medical, surgery and emergency care. Mark Morgan, director of the Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System, said the expansion will enable the VA to repurpose Muskogee's VA hospital into "a much needed community living and behavioral health center."

Mayor Marlon Coleman said he's concerned how the repurposing could affect Muskogee's role as a health care hub for veterans.

"One of the things I had hoped for was that any expansion of VA health services not impact Muskogee," he said. "I am pleased at the investment the president and Senator Inhofe have arranged to upgrade and renovate the facility, but we have to be careful that we maintain our position as a VA health care system in Muskogee to continue to reach our large veterans population, many of whom may not live in the city limits, but are still within reach of getting quality care in Muskogee instead of Tulsa. No veteran who is normally serviced in Muskogee should have to travel to Tulsa for services."

According to a Department of Veterans Affairs media release, more than two-thirds of the 47,000 veterans who receive services in Muskogee come from the Tulsa metro area.

Coleman said he also wants to ensure that Tulsa hospital workers will have the opportunity to live in Muskogee.

"I'm not in favor of any move that will hamper or hinder our ability to recruit trained and qualified physicians and staff to Muskogee," he said. "The new move definitely will attract different types of physicians, but we want to make sure we don't lose any in the process."

Morgan said Muskogee's inpatient staff who work on medical-surgical floors and ICUs will have the first priority option of relocating to the Tulsa hospital when it is completed.

"We'll still have a very large campus here to maintain," he said, adding that RNs, LPNs and other medical staff will be needed in Muskogee.

"A lot of engineering, logistics and custodial staff we'll end up hiring at all locations because you still have a large footprint to take care of. You just have a different patient base," Morgan said.

Muskogee City Manager Mike Miller said the repurposing is a $30 million investment in Muskogee.

"It could eventually create even more jobs than are currently here," Miller said. "It might be different jobs here, which is not ideal for the people who live and work here. But knowing we're going to have a significant capital investment and a long-term commitment by the federal government to make Muskogee a health care hub for the VA is important to our economy."

Morgan said repurposing Muskogee VA would cost about $29 million, but it is not part of the $120 million that will help fund the Tulsa hospital. Funding will come through a Strategic Capital Improvement plan.

"We'll be working on that formal submission in the next couple of months," Morgan said. "The funding for this will actually be several years out as we compete with other facilities."

Morgan said he feels confident about funding the Muskogee project because eastern Oklahoma veterans need better behavioral and nursing care.

"We're one of only a few VA facilities of our complexity that does not have a community living center or nursing home," he said, adding that the facility would have about 30 nursing home beds.

A veterans long-term care center that's moving from Talihina to Sallisaw is state-run, Morgan said. "What I'm talking about is a nursing home similar to the Oklahoma VA center. We do not offer that here in northeast Oklahoma."

The VA wants to expand to up to 25 regular mental health beds and 10 geriatric-psychiatric beds. Morgan said the geriatric-psychiatric facility in Oklahoma City is often at full capacity.

Veterans needing detox or rehab must go to out-of-state facilities, Morgan said.

Muskogee VA will continue to offer outpatient and primary care, plus five operating rooms for same-day surgery, he said.

Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center is operating 100 beds, primarily because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Morgan said.

"A few months ago we were operating 65," he said. "Prior to COVID, we had a lower and lower inpatient census, and more patients were being seen at private hospitals with largest portion being seen in the Tulsa hospitals."

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