Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Oregon)

Veterans Affairs Medical Center is a 227-bed, acute care medical facility in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1929, it is located on Marquam Hill adjacent to Oregon Health & Sciences University, and is connected to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital via a skybridge. The original hospital was replaced in the 1980s and has a capacity of up-to 478 beds.HistoryThe University of Oregon Medical School's regents donated land on Marquam Hill in 1926 to what is now the Department of Veterans Affairs. The property was to be used to construct a veterans hospital, with construction starting in February 1928. Offices opened at the new facility in November 1928, and patients were transferred to the new hospital in December 1928. In 1932, an administration building opened, followed by 13 quonset huts from 1946 to 1948 following World War II. The last addition to the old campus came in 1949 when a 155-bed tuberculosis hospital opened. The Portland VA started working with the adjacent medical school in 1946 on joint programs.The Veterans Administration announced in May 1976 that a new hospital would be built in Portland. A local group formed in 1980 to fight construction, and went to court in 1981 to try to stop the project. A new building was finished in 1981 in order to move some operations away from the planned location of the new hospital building. The suit was eventually dismissed in October 1981 by judge Robert C. Belloni, and in January 1982 the design of the new building was unveiled as construction started. The new building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, with W.B. Bateson Co. serving as the general contractor.