New VA health clinic for Brattleboro
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By DAWSON RASPUZZI Herald Staff - Published: December 3, 2008
Veterans in the southeast corner of the state will soon be able to get medical attention a lot closer to home, as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it will open a health clinic in Brattleboro in the near future.
Announced by Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday, the outpatient clinic will provide access for veterans to primary care physicians, laboratory tests, medications, mental health services and preventative services such as flu shots.
The clinic has been in high demand among veterans in the southeast part of the state for years, Sanders said, and will provide these veterans, as well as veterans in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, greater access to health services without having to travel to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction.
Sanders said word from the VA that the clinic will be built is just the first step in the process although a timeline for when it will be open and accepting patients has not been outlined yet.
"We'll do our best to see it happens as quickly as possible," Sanders said. "It'll be done in the reasonably near future."
Sanders, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., first wrote to New England VA officials in February requesting a new clinic in the southeast part of the state.
Sanders also talked about it with Secretary of the VA James Peake this summer when Peake visited the state at Sanders' invitation. Peake notified Sanders Tuesday the Brattleboro Community Based Outpatient Clinic will soon be formally approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"We have heard for many, many years from vets in the Windham County area that this is a facility that is needed," Sanders said.
The word that the VA is moving forward with the clinic came as good news for Welch, who released the following statement: "I am very pleased the VA has heeded our call to extend its outreach to southeastern Vermont. It is critical that we treat our veterans with the respect they deserve and continue to serve them as they so bravely have served us."
The clinic will be the fourth of its kind in the state, with similar ones already in Bennington, Colchester and Rutland. A clinic in Littleton, N.H., is used by many veterans in the northeast part of Vermont.
Community clinics are part of a national effort to make the VA health-care system more efficient and put a greater emphasis on primary care. Clinics are chosen based on an analysis of the distance to other health-care services, accessibility and relationships to other veterans' services, Sanders said.
Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at dawson.raspuzzi@rutlandherald.com.
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