Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center
Encyclopedia
The Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center began in 1923 as an old soldiers' home
originally called the Tuskegee Home, part of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
system. The home-hospital, eventually 27 buildings, was created next to the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute campus (now Tuskegee University
) on 464 acres (1.9 km²) donated by the Institute. Its medical purpose was to provide long-term care for African American soldiers returning from World War I, care often denied or neglected at other veterans' hospitals and old soldiers' homes. The hospital's early emphasis was on treating tuberculosis, and mental illness.
In 1930 the facilities were transferred to the Veterans Administration hospital system. In 1997 this center was merged with a VA center in Montgomery, Alabama, an outpatient clinic in Dothan, Alabama, and an outpatient clinic in Columbus, Georgia. The Tuskegee facility is now called the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System East Campus.
Old soldiers' home
An old soldiers' home is a military veteran's retirement home, nursing home, or hospital, or sometimes even an institution for the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors, and marines, etc.-United States:...
originally called the Tuskegee Home, part of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers
The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the Civil War...
system. The home-hospital, eventually 27 buildings, was created next to the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute campus (now Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
) on 464 acres (1.9 km²) donated by the Institute. Its medical purpose was to provide long-term care for African American soldiers returning from World War I, care often denied or neglected at other veterans' hospitals and old soldiers' homes. The hospital's early emphasis was on treating tuberculosis, and mental illness.
In 1930 the facilities were transferred to the Veterans Administration hospital system. In 1997 this center was merged with a VA center in Montgomery, Alabama, an outpatient clinic in Dothan, Alabama, and an outpatient clinic in Columbus, Georgia. The Tuskegee facility is now called the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System East Campus.