(The Reminder) Holyoke — Elected officials at every level, along with staff members, veterans, and other stakeholders from different towns and cities, flooded the new Veterans Home at Holyoke at 110 Cherry St. for a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 29 to welcome a new chapter of care for the region’s veterans.
Many speakers emphasized that the new Veterans Home at Holyoke is more than just a building.
“This project is more than improvements to our facility,” Veterans Home Executive Director Michael Lazo said. “It represents an investment in a state-of-the-art environment designed to meet the evolving needs of our veterans and reflects our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional care and the safe, welcoming, and supportive environment where veterans receive the dignity and respect they deserve.”
Construction is scheduled to be fully completed in summer 2028, but some residents will soon be welcomed to the new building as early as this fall. The new Veterans Home features 234 long-term care beds, a specialized memory care unit and a 40-person adult day health program designed to support both residents and veterans living in the surrounding community.
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State Sen. John Velis, a veteran and advocate for the project, explained the importance of saying “thank you” to a veteran.
“This nation, I am absolutely convinced as I stand here today, is only as strong or as weak as the men and women who raised their hand and they will say, ‘I’ll go,” Velis stated. “When a service member signs up, a contract is formed: ‘I will have your back as a nation.’ This building, what this says to me is part of that is saying, ‘ Now we got your back.’”
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey highlighted the $263 million in federal veterans affairs funding that he, Neal and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren helped secure for this project. In 2021, the state also passed a $600 million bond bill with $400 million going to the construction of a new home in Holyoke.
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