Massachusetts Unveils New Veterans Home at Holyoke: Capacity Rises From 128 to 234 Beds With Memorial Garden Honoring 2020 Victims
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey on October 29 unveiled the new Veterans Home at Holyoke in Hampden County, a 350,000-square-foot facility that replaces the home's 1952 building and marks a comprehensive upgrade of veterans' care in the state.
The new home has 234 beds, 212 private rooms and 11 double rooms, up from 128 beds in the old facility, and includes a 30-bed memory care unit for veterans living with dementia. Built to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs small-house model with geothermal energy systems, the facility is designed around a home-like environment and dignified care.
A Memorial Garden at the new home honors the 76 veterans who died at the old Holyoke facility during the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020, the darkest chapter in the institution's history. The state overhauled its veterans' long-term care system in the wake of that outbreak, and officials cast the new building as a landmark of that reform.
A second phase will add a 40-person adult day health program, with full completion expected in the summer of 2028. The state says staffing at the home runs at twice the national average and that hospitalization rates among its residents run about 46 percent below the national average.
U.S. Senator Ed Markey, U.S. Representative Richard Neal, Secretary of Veterans Services Eric Goralnick, Executive Director Michael Lazo and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll attended the unveiling. The administration also noted that more than 23,300 disabled veterans across Massachusetts received $58.4 million in annual benefits in 2026.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 马萨诸塞州州长Maura Healey官方肖像。公共领域，经GSM州长素材包。 / Official portrait of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. Public domain, GSM governors asset pack.
