The search is continuing for a site for a planned U.S. Veterans Affairs medical center in Sussex County, but opening is likely at least seven years away, a VA public affairs officer said recently.

“This project is still in development, and we have no updates on location or timeline for completion of this project,” said Pete Kasperowicz, press secretary for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans asked about the status of the project Oct. 17, when retired Brig. Gen. Karen Berry, the new state Veterans Affairs secretary, attended a veterans town hall meeting at American Legion Post 28 near Millsboro.

The 135,000-square-foot building, announced nearly a year earlier, would replace a Georgetown VA clinic. Officials last year said the new space in Sussex County would seek to improve veterans’ overall experience by increasing operational efficiency, primary-care space and continued access to additional mental health, specialty care, inpatient medicine and ancillary services. 

“There has been money that was approved,” said Valerie Harwood, a VA public affairs officer based at the Wilmington VA hospital. “They have to do an assessment. They have to see where the veteran population is.”

An assessment would consider issues such as location, whether to buy or lease a site, and if VA should partner with a college or medical school, Harwood said.

“It is a slow process,” Berry said.

“It’s going to happen,” Harwood said. “It’s not going to happen today. It’s not going to happen next year. It will probably happen in a five- to seven-year plan.” 

Sussex County is a fast-growing area and local hospitals are understaffed, so filling jobs will be a challenge for a new VA hospital, Berry said.

The nearest VA hospital is in Wilmington, which is up to a two-hour drive from parts of Sussex County. Veterans said that facility also serves people from neighboring states.  

The Georgetown VA clinic also serves people from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, and choosing a location will be important for a new hospital, Berry said.

The 14,006-square-foot VA outpatient clinic opened in fall 2016 at College Park Center at the intersection of routes 113 and 404, across from the Delaware Tech campus.

The Wilmington VA medical center is the fastest-growing veterans hospital on the east side of the country, so it has been able to justify maintaining staff as other hospitals have cut, Harwood said.

Veterans have access to a clinic in Georgetown, the VA medical center in Wilmington or from local physicians through the community care program initiated in September 2017. 

Some veterans complained about difficulty obtaining medical referrals in recent months.

Patrick Moonan, a retired Army captain, criticized the quality of veterans’ healthcare, saying the federal government is failing to meet the needs of Delaware veterans.

“We are well aware of the community care with the VA – there’s been trouble,” Harwood said at the Oct. 17 town hall meeting. “We’re not sugar-coating.”

Wait times for people on the telephone seeking referrals have been reduced dramatically in recent weeks, to an average of two minutes, after a reorganization, down from between 45 minutes and two hours, Harwood said.