A ribbon-cutting ceremony, held on the morning of February 26, 2022, marked the opening of the new Cape Girardeau VA Health Care Center.

5x the size of the original, this sparkling new facility formally threw open its doors to patients on Monday, Feb. 28.

Located on S. Mount Auburn Road, next to the Southeast Health Cancer Center on I-55, the center, which had previously catered to around 5,000 enrolled veterans, will now serve 8,000 or more – bolstered by significantly upgraded physical and technological infrastructure.

Celebrating a Bigger and Better Facility

The event was hosted by the Center’s Health System Administrator – Libby Johnson, and her team. The veteran community was well represented, and several VA and state officials were in attendance.

Also present on the occasion, was Michael D. Thornton Sr., Chief Operating Officer and Lorne Belt, Project Manager of Visionary Consulting Partners, LLC. Hardly surprising, given the key role that Team Visionary has played in supporting this expansion and modernization drive.

Our Contribution to the Cause

It was back in 2019 – not long before the pandemic struck – that Visionary was awarded a 5-year directed contract to provide the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration with Initial Outfitting, Transition, and Activation (IOT&A) services for the VA Cape Girardeau Health Care Center (VACGHCC).

Fittingly, Visionary is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), that offers healthcare providers, community-based organizations and public health agencies management consultancy services across almost the entire Healthcare Delivery continuum.

Throughout the course of this engagement, Team Visionary has demonstrated the sustained levels of passion and perseverance that a project of this scope and complexity demands, particularly under the trying circumstances the world has been through in recent times.

The Scope of Engagement

Visionary provides a comprehensive range of services to support planning, activation, outfitting, and transitioning the staff and veterans/patients associated with the center between FY19 and FY24:

• Comprehensive Project Management Support Services
• Design and Planning Services
• Comprehensive Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FF&E) Planning Support
• Acquisition Services
• Activation Support Services
• Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and Transition Services
• Relocation Services
• Warehousing and Warehousing Management Services
• Delivery, Installation, Testing and Training Services
• Training and Simulation
• Technical Request for Information (RFI) Assistance
• Final Turnover, Close-out, and Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) Services
• Strategic Communication (STRATCOM) Support Services
• Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) Planning Support
• Information Technology
• Biomedical Planning, Execution and Quality Assurance

A Significant Milestone

Visionary, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs, had committed to a Feb. 2022 deadline for the operationalization of the new Cape Girardeau VA Health Care Center. The significance of our contribution to the timely achievement of this milestone has been acknowledged by all the key stakeholders in this enterprise.

Our company is honored to have earned the opportunity to be the support contractor for IOT&A services for the VACGHCC. We thank the leadership of the Health Care Center and all the staff for an exceptional partnership in achieving this very important milestones for the Department of Veterans Affairs and our fellow Veterans. The palpable buzz around the transformation that this facility has undergone, has been particularly gratifying.

Our presence at this ribbon-cutting ceremony, therefore, was so much more than the obligatory show of solidarity with our client. It was – on behalf of all on Team Visionary – an expression of pride and co-ownership!