Cedar City Vets launch campaign for VA nursing home

CEDAR CITY (Deseret News) — Retired military veterans are holding a Town Hall meeting Friday to launch a public campaign for a Veterans' Assistance nursing home.

Marine Corps veteran Chuck Hoepfner recently told the City Council that the $17 million project would be a 110-bed nursing home on a six- to eight-acre lot; however, the project needs more community and financial support for it to become reality.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will provide 35 Percent of the costs for a nursing home in southern Utah, either for Cedar City or St. George, but not both locations. The rest of the funds will be covered by the state.

The vets called on the council March 3 for support to persuade Salt Lake City veteran affairs administrators to select Cedar City as the place to build a southern Utah VA nursing home to service veterans and their spouses.

"We are up against a great deal of opposition — political opposition," he said.

Hoepfner said Cedar City is a better option to have a VA nursing home because it's centrally located in southwestern Utah to serve military veterans in the area.

"It would make a great deal of comfort for the veterans because some of us are advancing along and are going to need this someday," Hoepfner said.

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