VETERANS
Tradition Hospital.
“We had everything they
wanted — nearby hospital
and doctors, fire station,
and more,” Teegardin said.
“Plus, the county agreed to
pay for certain extras outside
the contract.”
Finding a name included
meeting certain criteria. One
of them was that the person
had to be a Medal of Honor
recipient. And preference
was to be given to someone
local. Copas, who received
the Medal of Honor posthumously
from President
Obama on March 18, 2014,
met both criteria.
When the name was announced
in January 2015,
U.S. ARMY
The new nursing home will be
named after Spc. 4 Ardie R. Copas.
his daughter, Shyrell, was almost beyond words. This would
keep her dad’s name alive forever, she thought.
“I am so ecstatic, so happy, so honored that his name was
chosen that words can’t explain,” she said at the time.
OPENING PENDING
Sometime this summer, or later due to possible delays
caused by COVID-19, the skilled nursing home will open.
And Shyrell Copas and her mother, Betsy, plan to be there. “I
can’t wait,” she said. >>
18 Port St. Lucie Magazine
Standing at the
site of the Ardie
R. Copas State
Veterans’ Nursing
Home, Shyrell Copas
holds her dad’s
Medal of Honor
presented to her by
President Obama.
GREGORY ENNS
/www.slbt.com
