Shreveport VA Medical Center

Abstract:

The Shreveport VA Hospital was authorized by Congress on September 12, 1944.  The site was donated by the City of Shreveport with concurrence of Shreveport Chapter #237, United Daughters of the Confederacy, custodian of the area while used as a city park.  The area was placed in the VA hospital construction budget for 1947, and groundbreaking ceremonies were held December 10, 1947.

Construction began early 1948 and was completed in the summer of 1950.  The first patient, James Hill, a 29 year old amputee from Summer Grove, Louisiana, was admitted to the hospital on October 16, 1950.  The official dedication was held on November 27, 1950.  Former 4th District Congressman Overton Brooks, a strong proponent of the government providing health care for Veterans, led the successful movement to place a VA hospital in Northwest Louisiana.  In 1988, Congress voted to change the name of the hospital to the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in memory of the late Congressman Brooks who died in1961. 

Originally employing 500 employees with a $5M annual budget, the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center now employs nearly 1,700 employees with over $400M for its current annual operating budget.

The Origins of the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center dates back to World War I.

In 1918 a young man 21 years of age, by the name Overton brooks, enlisted in the army and served with the sixth field artillery, of the first division in World War I. During his time with the sixth field artillery in World War I, he would have seen combat actions in many places throughout France.

Names of places in France, that in 1918 and 1919 many Americans had never heard of. For a young man during this time, far from home in a faraway land must have been a frightening and life shaping event.  When Overton brooks returned from his service overseas and the war, he started college and graduated with a law degree from Louisiana state university at baton rouge in 1923; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Shreveport, Louisiana.  He was first elected to the U.S. House of representatives in 1937 and served until 1963 representing Louisiana.

During his tenure as a congressman, and a veteran of the first world war, he recognized the need to take care of veterans and their families who had suffered from the great war. With the onset of the World War II, he ensured that Veterans of Shreveport would have a hospital in their community that would be able to meet their unique needs.  With veterans’ health care a priority he started lobbying for the hospital that would eventually bear his name.  On September 12, 1944, his vision started to become a reality as the 78th congress authorized the construction of the Shreveport VA hospital.

The VA placed the hospital’s construction on the budget for 1947 and groundbreaking ceremonies were held on December 10, 1947.  Construction commenced in early 1948 and was completed in the summer of 1950.  The official dedication of the hospital was held on November 27, 1950. The first veteran to receive treatment at the hospital in 1950 was James Hill, a 29-year-old amputee from Summer Grove, Louisiana.

Overton Brooks VA Medical Center

At the time of dedication, the hospital originally housed around 450 inpatient beds with minimal outpatient activity. Congressman Overton brooks died September 16, 1961 and is interred at the forest park cemetery, just a few miles away from here. His dedication to helping veterans in this city and the surrounding area is memorialized by having this VA hospital named in his honor in 1988 as the Overton brooks VA Medical Center.

In October 1995, the Texarkana Community Based Outpatient Clinic was established. A new Veterans Clinic in Texarkana opens in 2022. In November of 1995, the Monroe clinic was opened.  In September 1999, the Longview Community Based Outpatient Clinic was opened. All in efforts to better serve our veterans in the Ark-LA-Tex.