THOUSANDS OF veterans and hundreds of medical professionals already knew it. A recent evaluation confirmed it.

Whether they fought in World War II or Operation Iraqi Freedom, local vets young and old receive some of the best medical care in the nation right here in North Jackson.

A report card from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently ranked the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center among the best in the nation. The hospital, which serves more than 1,700 veterans a day, is ranked eighth out of 139 VA centers nationwide.

It’s a rating that hospital officials are proud of, but one they hope to improve upon next year. Public Affairs Officer Mario Rossilli said the center has completed millions of dollars in projects to improve patient care and is embarking on several more.

The hospital recently opened a new primary care facility for outpatient services, improved its pharmacy and expanded its dialysis unit to help those with kidney failure. In coming months, the center will also expand its mental health unit to serve soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’re always looking for ways to better serve our patients,” Rossilli said.

The center has also beefed up recruiting efforts to hire more nurses and doctors and has partnered with the University of Mississippi to conduct research and train new staff members.

Veterans Affairs rates hospitals in quality of care, access to the facilities and satisfaction.

The department began conducting the evaluations about three years ago. Each year, the hospital’s rankings have increased. In 2005, it was ranked 12th and in 2006, was 10th.



FACILITY PLANNER Daniel Listi said the center on Woodrow Wilson continues to rank high in quality of care, placing fourth in 2007. “We’re proud of that number, because it’s the biggest thing we can do,” he said. “The facilities ahead of us are much smaller and serve fewer people.”

The hospital serves between 1,700 and 2,000 veterans a day at its new primary care unit, which is an outpatient service similar to a family doctor’s office. The unit was recently moved to the front of the building to give patients quicker access to it, Rossilli said.

In addition, it sees about 100 people a day in its new emergency room.

Administrative offices had previously been located there, he said. Those offices, which are usually used by people in better health than older veterans, were moved to an out-of-the-way location.

Center Director Richard Baltz recently told the North Jackson Lions Club that said some offices were moved off campus to provide the hospital with more space for medical programs.

The hospital now provides primary care, some surgery, psychiatry, physical medicine, long-term care, neurology and oncology. The VA center is the only veterans hospital in the Southeast with a “radiation seed” program, a new form of cancer treatment therapy, he said.

The hospital has an annual budget of $200 million and also operates a 120-bed nursing home. More than 80 percent of patients served there said the hospital provided “very good” or “excellent care.”

Officials say that number should go up, especially with dialysis patients. On January 14, the hospital opened its new hemodialysis unit on the fourth floor. Nurses were still unpacking syringes and other tools recently during a visit by the Northside Sun.

“They’ll have the best view of the hospital from the windows up there,” Listi said. “These patients come here three days a week and we wanted to do everything we could to make it as pleasant as possible.”

In addition to having more beds and 2,000 more square feet of space than the former location on the third floor, it also has other amenities.

Listi pointed to flat screen TVs mounted in front of beds throughout the ward and fluorescent light fixtures with nature scenes like hummingbirds and butterflies pictured on them. “They have to lay down a lot,” he said. “This will make it a nicer experience for them.”

BRENDA BAKER, a registered nurse working in the unit, said the hospital treated more than 5,000 dialysis patients last year.

Patients on dialysis treatment spend about 12 hours a week undergoing treatment to remove toxins from their kidneys. Baker said veterans have already noticed the improvements. “They absolutely like it better,” she said. “They love the large windows and the lights.”

In the last two years, the Montgomery VA Center had also taken in a large number of patients following Hurricane Katrina. Those numbers, though, have recently dwindled as VA centers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in New Orleans centers come back online.

Veterans can also visit one of seven smaller clinics throughout the state for treatment and check-ups.

Last year, the hospital served more than 440,000 people. Many have benefited from an improved pharmacy, which provides patients with private booths to talk to pharmacists. They have also benefited from a new primary care facility with a large, flat screen TV and hardwood floors.

Rossilli said, despite the volume of patients, those veterans seeking primary care don’t have to wait very long to see a doctor.

The hospital staffs 120 doctors and 300 registered nurses. In the past year, the center has brought in an additional 52 nurses to meet the patient load, Rossilli said.

Veterans returning from the Middle East will benefit from the hospital’s new centralized mental heath unit on the third floor.

Listi said the former hemodialysis unit is being converted into an area for all of the hospital’s mental heath services. One service will help new veterans transition back to their normal lives.

Now patients have to go to several areas scattered throughout the hospital for mental services.

Tiffany Evans, a program support assistant with the center’s post deployment health clinic, said the center has seen more than 400 new veterans, with more coming in daily.

Evans, who served with the Mississippi National Guard’s 155th Brigade Unit in Iraq, said she can relate to soldiers better because of her experience. She asked, “Who can better relate to a veteran than another veteran?”

She served in Iraq from August 2004 to January 2006. She too, had difficulties transitioning back to civilian life. “We had been deprived of our luxuries for so long,” she said recently. “There was just so much I wanted to do at one time.”