Renovation of two residential buildings at Central Virginia Training Center could begin within a few weeks, state officials said this week.
The work is the first to be confirmed at CVTC since the General Assembly designated $24.5 million for upgrading the center in Madison Heights last winter.
Coleman-Adams Construction Co. of Forest submitted a successful bid of just less than $4.5 million to install generators and upgrade Buildings 8 and 12 for safety and privacy, the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Service said.
The agency also proposes to improve two more residential buildings at CVTC by 2012, at an estimated cost of about $14.4 million.
No other plans involving specific dollar amounts for CVTC projects are mentioned in a comprehensive plan for the next six years on the Web site of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. That leaves roughly $5 million without an earmark in the plans.
A spokeswoman for CVTC’s parents’ group, which functions as an advocate for the center’s residents, said the immediate plans for improvements fail to address the CVTC hospital, a key concern of the group.
The hospital occupies one floor of a four-story building.
State officials have asked an architect to “determine how the building can be used to best meet the needs” of CVTC residents, said Meghan McGuire, spokeswoman for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
Martha Bryant, vice president of the parents’ group, said delays in putting in sprinklers mean the building is not protected from fire.
Bryant said the needs for sprinklers and other safety improvements have been known for nine years and the architect’s review amounts to “another study.”
The comments reflect the parents’ group’s concern that an on-site hospital is the best way to treat cases of communicable diseases such as flu, and make it easier to keep those patients isolated.
Until the architect’s report is submitted and a final plan is adopted, a few acute-care beds will continue to be available in CVTC’s hospital, training center officials have said.
DBHDS officials in Richmond favor a plan to send most patients who need hospital care to local emergency departments, saying that approach saves money.
Hospital beds at CVTC have fewer than 10 patients most of the time, and DBHDS officials say that occupancy rate doesn’t justify the cost of operating a hospital.
The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services’ draft Comprehensive State Plan can be viewed at www.dbhds.virginia.gov. Comments about it will be accepted through todayby e-mail to charline.davidson@dbhds.virginia.gov.
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