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V.A. Center is a City in a City

by Greg Livadas

BUILT TO resemble a fortress in 1933, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center remains one of Canandaigua's greatest assets.

The sprawling, immaculate, 160-acre campus on Fort Hill Avenue, next to Sonnenberg Gardens, boasts a public 9-hole golf course and an outpatient clinic for veterans. It even has its own police and fire departments.

Inside is a functioning city, complete with barbershop, bowling lanes, cafeteria, swimming pool and theater.

The center has 829 employees. The hospital has 211 patients who live there, and there are thousands of outpatient visits each year from people receiving treatment or counseling, or participating in activities. The average age of the veterans served is 63.

''This at one time was an old soldiers home,'' says spokesman Dennis Tepper. ''It is not that way anymore. We've changed as hospital care has changed.''

Gladys Craft worked as a candy packer and a canvas maker, but her time as a surgical technician in the Air Force continues to pay benefits more than 55 years later.

Craft, who is 101, left her Webster home in May to live at the medical center. About 5 percent of the patients are women, Tepper says.

''The people up here are wonderful to me,'' Craft says. ''You don't feel guilty about calling them. They make you feel good.''

Craft was 45 years old and living near her parents when she joined the Air Force in 1945. She enjoys reading -- particularly O, The Oprah Magazine -- and gets occasional visits from her twoo nephews and their families.

''I tell them not to come too often. I worry about them on the road,'' she says. ''I tell them to send a card once in a while and they do. It's just like reading a story.''

Pictures of her 99th and 100th birthday parties are taped to a wall in her room, next to crayon artwork drawn on construction paper.

''I had a grandniece visit and she was impressed or something, and the next thing I know, they sent me that,'' she says.

Craft's key to a long life: ''Try to live the way you should and trust in God. That's the only thing that keeps me going is my faith in God. He's always answered my prayers.''

John Ando, 77, from nearby Clifton Springs, worked at the hospital from 1943 to 1985 as a nursing assistant. He has lived at the hospital since suffering a stroke more than four years ago.

''I go to PT (physical therapy) in the morning and OT (occupational therapy) in the afternoon,'' says Ando, who maneuvers in an electric wheelchair.

He enjoyed hunting, fishing and gardening when he was younger. Now, he enjoys bingo, with prizes of coupons from 50 cents to $5 to be used in the canteen. Many of the coupons are paid for by donations to the hospital from local service groups.

Earion ''Bill'' Kuehl, 77, originally of Clarkson, has called the hospital home for nearly five years after suffering a stroke. He, too, scoots around in an electric wheelchair.

Kuehl wears a bright yellow shirt from the 2001 Golden Age Games held in Texas. The bronze medal he won in shuffleboard still hangs around his neck, with a red, white and blue ribbon.

''I wear it all the time until it gets heavy around my neck, then I throw it in the drawer,'' he says.

More than 50 patients are receiving psychiatric care at the hospital. Others with dementia receive specialized attention.

In an adult day care area, some men watch The Price is Right on a large-screen television while others appear to be napping. Many wear hats detailing the military branch or war they served in.

Austin Fallon, 83, of Canandaigua is busy painting small decorative birdhouses.

Alone in a back room, Richard Schackov, 78, of Canandaigua, who is blind in one eye, spends hours peering through a magnifying glass while he paints by number.

''I've been painting since 1948,'' he says. ''It's relaxing. I give them away. I don't have room for them now.''

In a neighboring room, a ''seasonal'' tree is adorned with dozens of American flags. In still another room, crafts, many made by patients, are available for sale.

William Askew, 43, of Syracuse has been at the center for a month, receiving voluntary treatment for drug and alcohol dependency. He also receives counseling for depression and paranoid schizophrenia and isn't shy about talking about it.

''People should know there are certain things that come from drug and alcohol dependency,'' he says. ''Your brain cells die.''

An Army veteran, this is his second visit to the hospital for his problems.

''Once I'm released from here, I want to go to a halfway house next time,'' Askew says. ''I don't want to go back on the streets.''

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Last modified: August 16, 2003