After renovations, normalcy returns to Veterans Home

After two years of transferring rooms and walking down one-way hallways, residents at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau no longer have to cope with construction and renovations in their 18-year-old facility.

The ceilings are back intact, the floors are re-tiled and the walls and lighting are both a little brighter, but staff and residents are still waiting on certain finishing touches. Several large vacant spaces remain where sitting areas are planned, but furniture has yet to arrive, and many of the windows lack the draperies planned for them.

Still, walking down a hallway without a wallpaper border or window treatments pales in comparison to the conditions the staff and veterans lived in this time last year when construction crews blocked off half the width of the hallway to install new tiles, narrowing the space to just large enough for a wheelchair.

"We looked kind of like a war zone," said Jan Rau, administrator for the Veterans Home.

The noise and traffic from 60 carpenters and their power tools and ladders strained the home and stressed those who live there, she said. "You don't realize how intrusive noise can be."

Renovations at the Missouri Veterans Home included adding an expanse of windows to the cafeteria. (Fred Lynch)

No rooms were added to the 150-bed home, but everything got a "general facelift," Rau said. The home currently has 138 residents and now that the renovations are over, it hopes to fill to 98 percent capacity. The home recently received funding to pay an additional 12 employees and is in the process of hiring and organizing training for the new staff.

The most noticeable improvement in the recent renovation was an atrium added to the dining hall. The kitchen was expanded to give workers more room and an outdoor patio was constructed above the in-ground heating, ventilation and air conditioning room.

The new HVAC system was the largest cost of the $7.7 million project. A federal Veteran's affairs grant paid $5 million and the state chipped in the rest. The HVAC system includes a new sprinkler system and an automated heating and air system for the building, which Rau and residents say isn't working quite right yet.

"There are times when you walk through the building and it's more humid in one spot than another," Rau said as she walked through a doorway and held out her hand to check the temperature.

Hugh LeDure, who served in the U.S. Army's 96th Infantry Division during World War II, has noticed the quirks in the new system.

Hugh LeDure played dominoes at the Missouri Veterans Home on Thursday. The home was recently renovated.

"I don't think my room's right," LeDure said. "My feet stay cold all night."

LeDure has lived in the Veterans Home since 1999, and said he's not so sure the changes were worth the trouble.

"I liked it better the other way," he said. "I was used to it."

Before the renovation, gray textured wall covering adorned the walls and the floor tiles were beige and dark brown.

"They were really just kind of muddy colors," Rau said. "I'm sure it was the thing, you know, 18 years ago."

Now, cool blues, silver and whites fill the home, making it seem like an open and airy space.

Rau said the residents have made comments that they can see clearer now.

"You get so used to working in an environment that you don't notice [they can[']t see]," she said. "And it was because of the lighting we had."

Like all the other residents, LeDure had to move out of his room and into another wing while work was done on his section of the home. Some of his things were sent to family members and some stayed in boxes while he lived in a temporary room.

The staff tried to transfer patients to rooms that echoed the general setup of their own to minimize confusion, but still had to remind lost residents where they were staying.

"It was pretty chaotic, but we dealt with it," said Cherie Schmidt, a medical technician who has worked at the home for nine years. "It was a long process."

Now that the "facelift" is finished, Rau said she would like to see the home's chapel area expanded. The chapel currently seats about 15 and with a room next to it, can fit no more than 30 people, she said.

The space is fine for Bible studies and small worships, but on Sundays, the home hosts a full service and family members come to spend time with loved ones who live in the home.

"We really can't accommodate them at all," Rau said. The proposed 600-square-foot expansion would double the size of the chapel.

charris@semissourian.com

334-6611, extension 246