NORMAN — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has acquired an abandoned acute care hospital building in Norman and intends to renovate it to provide health care for military veterans in the Norman area.
The VA reportedly will pay $3.26 million for the Norman Specialty Hospital building and has approved $10 million for renovations, including a new roof, a plumbing overhaul, and heat and air conditioning improvements, a public affairs officer in the VA Health Care System in Oklahoma City said.
The 39,665-square-foot former hospital has been vacant since 2014.
The new VA hospital will have 52 beds: 26 for skilled nursing and 26 for in-patient substance abuse treatment. Norman’s VA clinic does not provide skilled nursing or in-patient substance abuse treatment.
In a related matter, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is weighing plans for construction of a new Griffin Memorial psychiatric hospital.
The ODMHSAS has been working on a plan to move and expand Griffin Memorial Hospital for about a decade.
The $137 million project will increase patient capacity from 120 beds to 330 beds—reportedly 270 for adults and 60 reserved for adolescents – and will enlarge the hospital to 363,000 square feet, said Jeff Dismukes, ODMHSAS chief public information officer.
The Legislature earmarked $87 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds last year to construct a new Griffin Memorial Hospital to replace the century-old facility. The other $50 million is expected to be produced from the sale of the existing hospital site and several other Griffin-owned properties in Norman, Dismukes said.
A firm timeline for the construction project has not been established, but tentative plans are to open the facility in early 2026, Dismukes said last Friday.
“The department has not reached a final decision on the location of a new behavioral health hospital to replace GMH,” he added.
Oklahoma County commissioners voted to allocate $1 million from their ARPA funds to the project if ODMHSAS chooses a location in Oklahoma County for the new hospital. Similarly, the Oklahoma City Council was scheduled to vote Jan. 31 on a proposal to dedicate $1 million from the city’s $122.5 million ARPA allocation “for the relocation of Griffin Memorial Hospital to Oklahoma City.”
In other health-care news, Oklahoma City-based INTEGRIS Health announced a layoff of 140 employees because of various financial challenges.
According to an INTEGRIS representative, 200 positions, including 140 caregivers and 60 open positions, have been eliminated and the organization is working to support the employees during this transition.
“The post-pandemic recovery for hospitals has proven to be financially challenging. Hospitals across the industry are projected to have their worst financial year in decades,” said Brooke Cayot, media relations lead at INTEGRIS Health.
“The reasons for the financial challenges are multifold, but some include a dramatic rise in expenses due to labor shortages and supply-chain disruptions, and significantly lower patient volumes compared to pre-pandemic days. Because of these reasons, health systems across the nation are being faced with difficult decisions.”
INTEGRIS is the largest nonprofit health system in Oklahoma and one of the largest private employers in the state, with nearly 9,000 employees. The system operates 16 hospitals.