http://www.thebattlecreekshopper.com BATTLE CREEK SHOPPER NEWS Thursday, October 10, 2024 9
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See CENTENNIAL on 10VA
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It’s all happening at the VAMC
at 5500 Armstrong Road in Battle
Creek and will include the staff,
veterans and citizens from not only
Battle Creek and Kalamazoo but
from its Benton Harbor, Lansing,
Muskegon and Wyoming clinics.
“We want to highlight our his-
tory,” said Centennial Celebration
Committee Chair Brent Larsen.
“We’ve got a rich history and we’ve
got a broad offering for veterans here
and we wanted to be able to brag
about the things that we’ve done, the
innovations that we had and really
what we have to offer right now. The
community has been a big part of
our history, coming here, supporting
veterans, we wanted to make sure we
celebrate that, too, by inviting them,
bringing the community together and
celebrating what’s happened over
the last 100 years and our continued
commitment going forward.”
Music for the event will be provid-
ed by the Dennis Smith Band and the
Hooligans Flight Team will provide
a flyover during the festivities, said
Larson.
Among the list of speakers will be
Brigadier General Jeffrey Terrill,
commander of the Michigan National
Guard, as well as Chief of Staff Dr.
Ketan Shah and other members of
the health care leadership team, as
well as VAMC Executive Director
Michelle Martin.
On Oct. 15, 1924 at a cost of
nearly $3 million, the red brick, neu-
ropsychiatric Veterans Hospital 100
was open to the public, said Martin
in a new history booklet about the
VAMC, compiled by Christina Kula
and Todd Greenman in the public
affairs department.
“Back then,” she wrote, “the hos-
pitals were assigned a number. The
facility later became known as the
Battle Creek VA Medical Center. It
was the first completely electrically
equipped hospital in the country.”
At one time, she wrote, the facil-
ity had well over 3,000 inpatient
Veterans.
“While we remain steadfast,” she
said, “in the mission to be the hub
for mental health services in the
region, times and treatments for
mental health have certainly evolved
over 100 years.”
Not only does the VA have the
clinics in the outlying communities,
it offers Home Based Primary Care,
Tele Health, Tele Urgent Care and
other programs to provide care for
veterans virtually or in their homes,
she said.
The main hospital building recently
received a new urgent care and more
plans are in the works.
As of 2024, research and devel-
opment at the Battle Creek VA is
primarily in pharmacy and mental
health, but the facility is working
to expand research opportunities tomore areas of the medical center, the
booklet reveals.
“Battle Creek VA Medical Center
is one of the leading healthcare sys-
tems serving Veterans in the Veterans
Integrated Service Network,” the
booklet conveys, “which includes
medical centers in Indiana, Kentucky,
Michigan and Ohio. Many veterans
from these outlying areas will receive
care at Battle Creek with special
attention to inpatient care programs
and mental health.”
“Some appointments still need to
be done in person,” said Martin, “andwe work to streamline those appoint-
ments and make communication effi-
cient and easy.”
The facility has seen service mem-
bers from WWI, WWII, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf
War, Iraq, Afghanistan, Post 9.
and every other conflict and peace-
time era.
“It is humbling,” she wrote, “to
think about the history of this facil-
ity and I am honored that Veterans
choose the Battle Creek VA for their