Georgia War Veterans Home
The Georgia War Veterans Home, situated on approximately 20 acres in Milledgeville, operates three skilled nursing care facilities and one domiciliary care facility and has the well equipped Kenneth Birdsong Recreation Center serving the entire campus.
The home is operated under a contractual agreement with United Veteran Services, Inc. Medical care is provided to veteran patients at no cost to the veteran or the veteran's family; however, medical services obtained by the veteran outside the home (hospitalizations and outpatient services) may have charges associated with them.
The Georgia War Veterans Home is licensed by the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Office of Regulatory Services and certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide skilled nursing and domiciliary care to aged and infirm Georgia veterans. It also provides training to nursing assistant students, many of whom obtain follow-on employment at the home. In addition, training rotations in respiratory care, social work and nursing are offered through agreements with local colleges and technical colleges.
The Richard B. Russell Building constructed in 1973, has a budgeted operation of 110 skilled nursing beds. The Carl Vinson Building, originally built as a domiciliary in 1968 renovated in 1979 and reopened in 1980 as a skilled nursing facility has a budgeted operation of 102 beds. The newest skilled nursing facility is the Joe T. Wood Building, formally dedicated in 1989, has a budgeted operation of 130 beds.
The oldest structure of the home is the Pete Wheeler Building, originally constructed in 1902. It underwent a renovation, during the mid 1970s and again in the last seven years. This facility serves a budgeted population of 99 veterans in need of domiciliary care. It houses the recently completed Alzheimer's Unit.
The Georgia Department of Veterans Service field office serving Baldwin, Hancock, Putnam, Washington and Wilkinson counties is housed on the first floor of "D-Wing" of the Wheeler Building.
Veterans at the home received 34,094 days of, domiciliary care and 120,099 days of skilled nursing care in 2001. There were 151 admissions and 166 discharges during the year. The average length of stay for these veterans was 1,319 days. The average age of veterans in the facility was 74 years. Federal assistance in financing the cost of providing care to veterans in the home amounted to $6,913,856.
As in previous years, hundreds of activities were scheduled for the general well being and entertainment of the veterans. Therapeutic and leisure services included bowling, swimming, miniature golf (on the home's 18-hole miniature course), and monthly excursions during the baseball to see the Atlanta and Macon Braves and weekly shopping trips to local shopping centers and the Macon Mall.
Various veterans' service organizations, civic associations and church groups continued their sponsorship of movies, games, dance parties and other activities and programs throughout the year.