FORT SMITH -- Veterans now have access to expanded services in the River Valley area.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had a ribbon cutting Friday celebrating the completion of the Community-Based Outpatient Clinic at 5500 Phoenix Ave. in Fort Smith.
Kimberly Lane, interim medical center director at Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, said the relocation and expansion from the clinic's location at 1500 Dodson Ave. was requested in 2015. She said the new location takes the clinic from 19,000 to 34,000 square feet and allows staff to continue the services provided in addition to eye care, audiology and women's health.
Lane said Baptist Health-Fort Smith helped the clinic provide services while the new building was under construction, and the VA Clinic will continue to partner for services it doesn't provide. She also thanked the Fort Smith, Next Step Day Room, Hope Campus and the Public Housing Authority for providing community support to veterans.
"We are dedicated to doing everything that we possibly can to do the right thing for those who served us," Lane said. "In this state-of-the-art building, we'll also have peer support, telemedicine, homeless program services, home-based primary care -- which is primary care that is provided directly in the home for our veterans -- evidenced-based practices, and of course the dedicated staff who will go above and beyond to do the right thing for veterans and their families."
Jacque Long, facility planner at Department of Veterans Affairs, said the clinic is projected to serve roughly 10,000 veterans in the River Valley.
"I think we've got 30,000 veterans in the area, so I think because of the quality of care that we're going to be offering, we're going to be able to get more people into the VA system, which is very, very important," said U.S. Sen John Boozman, R-Rogers.
"I'm certainly hoping that as we continue to add more veterans to the service clinic, that we will be able to add even more additional, specialty care services to provide care to the veterans so that you don't have to travel," said Skye McDougall, Veterans Integrated Services Network 16 director. "A key goal of ours is to provide timely care and to reduce waiting times for care, and this clinic provides an example of the improvements that we're making throughout the country to provide access to care."
Boozman said many veterans are in situations where they depend on others to take care of them, so having a local facility lessens the burden of having to travel to Fayetteville or Little Rock to receive care.
Jerry Wilkinson, a veteran who spent 20 years on active duty and has used the veterans clinic for 15 years, said it also relieves the financial burden of paying for lodging when traveling.
"It's just going to make it a lot easier, and I think the treatment will be better. I think the services will be great here," Wilkinson said.
"The other thing that's so special about this clinic is we have a lot of women veterans that have served," Boozman said. "When the VA system was developed, that wasn't the case. It was mostly male. So, as a result, it was very male-oriented. Again, in the last several years the VA has worked very hard, and we're going to have as good female care as anywhere. That is our commitment."
"They're now our greatest and largest growing number of veterans, so we're really pleased that we were able to add state-of-the-art services here," McDougall said.
"I also feel a deep sense of pride that the clinic is located in a city that is so supportive of our veterans," she added. "That means so much to all of us in the VA."
Jacqueline Long, an employee of the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks and mistress of ceremony, delivers opening remarks on Friday, April 1, 2022, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Fort Smith Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fort Smith. The VHSO opened the 34,000-square foot clinic to provide outpatient and ancillary services such as primary care, mental health, optometry, women's health, veterans benefits administration and radiology. The ceremony included remarks from Arkansas senator John Boozman, Fort Smith mayor George B. McGill and others, the posting and retiring of the colors by VFW Post 1322, and tours inside the facility. Visit nwaonline.com/220402Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Attendees listen to opening remarks on Friday, April 1, 2022, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Fort Smith Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fort Smith. The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks opened the 34,000-square foot clinic to provide outpatient and ancillary services such as primary care, mental health, optometry, women's health, veterans benefits administration and radiology. The ceremony included remarks from Arkansas senator John Boozman, Fort Smith mayor George B. McGill and others, the posting and retiring of the colors by VFW Post 1322, and tours inside the facility. Visit nwaonline.com/220402Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Attendees salute the American flag on Friday, April 1, 2022, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Fort Smith Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fort Smith. The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks opened the 34,000-square foot clinic to provide outpatient and ancillary services such as primary care, mental health, optometry, women's health, veterans benefits administration and radiology. The ceremony included remarks from Arkansas senator John Boozman, Fort Smith mayor George B. McGill and others, the posting and retiring of the colors by VFW Post 1322, and tours inside the facility. Visit nwaonline.com/220402Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
David Goddard, a veteran of the Navy and Marine Corps who committed three tours during the war in Vietnam, pets his service dog Molly while attending with nurse Sue Seratt on Friday, April 1, 2022, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Fort Smith Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fort Smith. The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks opened the 34,000-square foot clinic to provide outpatient and ancillary services such as primary care, mental health, optometry, women's health, veterans benefits administration and radiology. The ceremony included remarks from Arkansas senator John Boozman, Fort Smith mayor George B. McGill and others, the posting and retiring of the colors by VFW Post 1322, and tours inside the facility. Visit nwaonline.com/220402Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Veterans salute the American flag on Friday, April 1, 2022, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Fort Smith Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Fort Smith. The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks opened the 34,000-square foot clinic to provide outpatient and ancillary services such as primary care, mental health, optometry, women's health, veterans benefits administration and radiology. The ceremony included remarks from Arkansas senator John Boozman, Fort Smith mayor George B. McGill and others, the posting and retiring of the colors by VFW Post 1322, and tours inside the facility. Visit nwaonline.com/220402Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)