Sitrin Embarks On Major Expansion Project To Treat More Injured Vets

New Hartford, NY (WIBX) - As thousands of military service members make their way home after deployment, a local facility known for treating injured Veterans is looking to expand. Sitrin Health Care Center officials close to the construction project, say the aim is to reach more injured soldiers who need specialized rehabilitation treatment.

Sitrin Military Liaison, Luke Slatton said, "We're trying to build an off-site location that will house up to 32 military service members at once, so that will greatly increase the number of guys that we can put through the program." Slatton explains that the center is also planning to integrate its patient population, and the expansion project will increase the number of people that can take part in the 4, 6 or 8 week program from 2 to 8 people at a time, to 32 people at a time.

He says like any major construction project, the proposed Medical Treatment Center will need support from the community, including elected officials. "You know, we have to get construction costs and staffing and manning and training costs, so we're going to have to raise some money to build the off-site location for our program," Slatton said.

Congressman Richard Hanna who supports the expansion project took part in the round table  discussion at Sitrin Rehabilitation Center this morning, along with Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney and other officials. Hanna says expanding the life-saving treatment Sitrin offers will not only help military families, but also the surrounding community.

Hanna said, "They're talking about building a facility here to house both the soldier and their families, which of course we know that they recover faster, better if they're a unit--you really kind of have to treat them as a unit--the family and soldier. And, they're going to have an equestrian portion to this and maybe a shooting range and different things that they might do to make it more easy for the soldiers to adjust, come back and get healthy with the severe injuries that they're suffering from today. People come back with injuries that not that many years ago, they would never have survived from."

Although still in the planning stages, Slatton says building material for the project alone is currently estimated to cost between $4 and $5 million. He says project organizers will entertain all fund raising efforts to make the project a reality within the next two years. To learn more about the organization and its work, visit, www.sitrin.com.