[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 184 (Wednesday, October 20, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY OF THE VETERAN ADMINISTRATION DOMICILIARY 
               PROGRAM AND PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTPATIENT CENTER

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                     HON. JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON

                             of puerto rico

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 20, 2021

  Miss GONZALEZ-COLON. Madam Speaker, the construction of the Veterans 
Administration Domiciliary Program & Psychosocial Outpatient Center in 
Puerto Rico is a long overdue facility that will serve Veterans in the 
geographic area of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including 
close to 23,000 mental health patients. The Center will complement the 
Veterans Administration Carribean Health System (VACHS) with 
Psychosocial Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs to assist 
Veterans living with mental illness. The programs will assist the 
Veteran by instilling hope, validating strengths, teaching skills, and 
facilitating community integration so that each Veteran can develop 
meaningful self-determined roles in the community.
  With 52,000 net usable square feet and 177 parking spaces and an 
investment of approximately $50 million dollars, the VA Domiciliary 
Program & Psychosocial Outpatient Center will include a Residential 
Program and a Psychosocial Recovery Program. In the facility the 
veterans of the region will be able to receive services close to their 
homes, rather than referring them to other facilities in the U.S. 
mainland, which could deprive our Veterans from their family support 
and limiting their ability to fully benefit from the services received, 
due to cultural and language barriers,
  The Veterans of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands have never 
wavered in their resolve to give their best in the defense of the 
Nation. Overcoming social norms and without full representation in the 
U.S. Congress, as deserved by all American citizens, they persevered 
and are an inspiration to all of us.
  Today, October 20, 2021, the words of President Abraham Lincoln, ``To 
care for him who shall have borne the battle,'' that are the motto of 
the VA, are fulfilled as we celebrate the ground breaking of the 
construction of the Veterans Administration Domiciliary Program & 
Psychosocial Outpatient Center in Puerto Rico. I hope we can all be 
inspired by the example of the Veterans of Puerto Rico and the U.S. 
Virgin Islands and ask that we can commit ourselves to making sure that 
the words of President Abraham Lincoln compel us to strive without rest 
to serve those who served.

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