MARTINSBURG -- Two ongoing wars and directives from Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki are bringing growth and change to the region's Veterans Affairs Medical Center, its director said.

Ann R. Brown, who became director of the Martinsburg facility more than two years ago, said there's been an increased focus on the needs of newly returning wartime vets, as well as women, those with mental health needs and the homeless.

"This isn't your grandfather's VA," said Brown of the sprawling, 175-acre campus on Butler Avenue just off W.Va. 9. "We're committed to meeting the needs of all veterans. We're reaching out in ways we never have before."

Founded in 1944, the Martinsburg VAMC now has 1,600 full-time employees, 566 beds (including 200 in a long-term care unit) and a $221 million annual budget. The facility provides health care for more than 129,000 veterans who live in the Eastern Panhandle and parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

"It's a number that keeps growing," she said. "Not only do we have more veterans returning from the current conflicts, but we still run into veterans who don't realize the care they're eligible for."

Brown said her facility has begun to partner with veterans' organizations to hold day-long special events in various communities.

"We think it's important that we're out there, visible to veterans, particularly in rural areas," she said. "We come in, offer health screenings and allow veterans to make an appointment to come to the VA. We want to do more to let these veterans know we're here for them."

Some of the changes at the Martinsburg facility involve physical growth, with ground about to be broken on a new, $11 million outpatient clinic. The 330,00-square-foot building will house a suicide prevention network, as well as all the facility's outpatient mental health services. It is scheduled to open early next year.

Also planned is a transitional housing facility on an unused three-acre part of the campus. Rather than a homeless shelter, the facility would offer a place live to veterans who are working toward job training or a degree. The facility would provide housing to veterans and their families for up to two years, Brown said.

"Other VA facilities across the United States have done this, offering apartments for vets at risk for homelessness," Brown said. "While we treat only the veteran, the veteran's family and the family's needs have to be part of the picture, too."

Shinseki, a West Point graduate and former Army chief of staff selected for the Cabinet by President Barack Obama late last year, detailed a $3.2 billion plan to drastically curb the number of homeless veterans.

"No one who has served this nation as veterans should ever be living on the streets," Shinseki said at a November news conference.

Shinseki also has called on the VA to better accommodate the needs of women veterans, Brown said. One change that's been well received in Martinsburg, she said, has been to revamp patient waiting rooms to include books, games and activities for children.

"So many of the veterans we see coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are women with young children, and we have to take that into consideration as we work with them," she said.

The Martinsburg facility also operates six outpatient clinics in neighboring communities, with a new clinic under construction in Fort Detrick, Md., and scheduled to open in the fall.