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Peter D. O'Bryan <br />District 4 <br />Wesley S. Davis <br />Vice Chairman <br />District 1 <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />1* --1 <br />ZOre, <br />District 3 <br />Joseph E. Flescher <br />District 2 <br />July 14, 2014 <br />Colonel Mike Prendergast <br />Executive Director <br />Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs <br />11351 Ulmetton Road, #311-K <br />Largo, FL 33778-1630 <br />Bob Solari <br />District 5 <br />Dear Colonel Prendergast: <br />I'm writing to encourage you to support St. Lucie County and the City of Port St. Lucie's <br />application to the Florida Department of VeteransAffairs to have the state's 7th State <br />Veteran's Nursing Home built in St. Lucie County. <br />St. Lucie County is located in the heart of the Treasure Coast a region that houses an <br />estimated 279,971 veterans; 145,242 of whom are over age 65. The closest existing <br />State Veterans Homes to the Treasure Coast are far away: Pembroke Pines to the <br />south (roughly 115 miles), Daytona Beach to the north (140 miles) and Port Charlotte <br />on the west coast (127 miles). A Veterans Home in St. Lucie County would be perfectly <br />positioned to serve a wide region of East-Central Florida where no such home currently <br />exists, incorporating all of St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River, Okeechobee, and Highlands <br />Counties, most of Palm Beach and Brevard Counties and portions of Glades, Polk, <br />Hendry, and Osceola Counties, <br />The County and City have already secured a 28.5 -acres site located in Port St. Lucie's <br />Tradition master -planned community that is environmentally sound and ready for <br />construction. Additionally, the Veteran's Home would be housed in close proximity to <br />the new state-of-the-art, 90 -bed Tradition Medical Center, operated by Martin Health <br />Systems. <br />Further the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute adjacent to the Tradition Medical Center <br />has recently established a new Center of the Diseases of Aging which is supported by <br />recent funding from the State of Florida's approved budget. It is contemplated that the <br />Veteran Home's residents would be ideally situated to benefit from both the new <br />hospital and the research of the aging population all within the same community, <br />1801 271" Street, Building A <br />Vero Beach, FL 32960 <br />(772) 226-1490 <br />//XA <br />