History

Our History

The Phoenix VA Health Care System has cared for America's Veterans in Phoenix for more than half a century. It's an honor we extend to our Veterans that would never have been possible without the help of former U.S. Senator Carl Trumbull Hayden. 

In 1947, Sen. Hayden arranged a meeting between President Harry Truman and a delegation of 27 Maricopa County residents. The delegation brought with them a petition signed by 100,000 voters requesting to build a VA hospital in Phoenix. The delegation was very persuasive and on May 21, 1947, President Truman authorized the transfer of 27 acres of the Indian School reservation at 7th Street and Indian School Road to VA as a site for a new hospital.

The medical center first opened its doors in 1951 and served 1,000 outpatients per month.

In order to recognize Carl Hayden's assistance in this endeavor, and to honor his legislative and military service to Arizona, the medical center was renamed the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 1987.

Since that time, the Veteran population in central Arizona has continued to increase, and so have the resources and services of the Phoenix VA Health Care System (which incorporates the Carl T. Hayden Veterans' Administration Medical Center and 10 community-based outpatient clinics). PVAHCS provided more than 110,000 Veterans with comprehensive health care benefits and provided more than 1.7 million outpatient appointments in 2021.