AURORA, Colo.—Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. Bill Ritter have asked federal officials to build a stand-alone Veterans Affairs hospital at the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital campus.
Each has written a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to endorse a separate hospital rather than a unit inside the University of Colorado Hospital.
Former VA Secretary James Peake had expressed interest in the hospital-within-a-hospital model. Bennet says local veterans’ groups oppose that plan.
Bennet notes that $568.4 million has been set aside for the project and $188.3 million has been appropriated. Forty acres are available on the Fitzsimons site in the Denver suburb of Aurora.
University of Colorado officials say they support either model.
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Information from: The Aurora Sentinel,
