Posted on 09/06/2007 5:51:54 PM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — The new Veterans Administration Sierra Vista Community Based Outpatient Clinic was officially dedicated Wednesday, adding to the growing number of specialized federal medical facilities throughout the nation.
Each week a million veterans are treated in VA medical facilities throughout the nation, with most of them in community clinics, which are seen to be more efficient and effective, said Patricia A. McKlem, director of the federal agency’s Southwest Health Care Network, which is located in Mesa.
American citizens have been given the gift of living in the United States, and part of the responsibility they have is to ensure veterans are cared for, she said.
During his second inaugural speech, President Abraham Lincoln mentioned the need to take care of veterans who were fighting in the Civil War.
Famous for its “malice toward none and charity for all” words in the last paragraph of the speech, Lincoln mentioned the responsibility of the nation “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.”
That phrase is part of the VA’s responsibility when it comes to the veteran, McKlem said.
“We are reminded of the price of freedom,” she said.
While reaching medically out to the family of veterans is not the VA’s prime mission, there is a responsibility to do that for those who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or other mental health problems, McKlem said.
Such illnesses and brain injuries that can lead to mental health problems require families being involved in treatment, McKlem said.
Both physical and mental problems must be treated.
Today’s medicine treatments and services offer the ability to help veterans who suffer serious wounds.
A little more than three decades ago, the VA was caught up in the big hospital or medical center treatment concept.
McKlem said most of the large medical facilities — more than 170 — were placed in areas where powerful members of Congress wanted them.
The current concept of reaching out and providing more treatment through community-based clinics has led to the reduction of the larger centers, which number about 150. There are more than 1,000 smaller but more practical treatment centers nationwide, McKlem said.
As the keynote speaker at the Sierra Vista dedication, she noted the Southwest network is a 352,000-square-mile area that includes Arizona, New Mexico and the western part of Texas, as well as the bordering counties in Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. The agency’s national annual budget is $34 billion.
Returning to the current combat role Americans find themselves engaged in, McKlem said more than 717,000 have departed the military of which 47 percent were from the active-duty forces and the rest from the National Guard and Reserve forces.
That is why community clinics are important, she said.
Jonathan Gardner, director of the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, said the creation of a new Sierra Vista facility, which is located at 101 N. Coronado Drive, started out as a possibility in 1993.
It wasn’t until 1997 when a facility consisting of four employees opened on Fort Huachuca in a less than 1,000-square-foot space at what is now the Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center. The center was then a hospital.
By 1999, the facility expanded to 2,600 square feet, and now nearly 10,000 square feet is available for the facility.
During the past decade, medical capabilities expanded and today the work force is larger.
Nineteen employees now work in the new facility, and by next year another nine will join the staff, bringing the total to 26.
Dr. Jayendra Shah said the patient load, which once was about 400, has grown to 4,000.
As for the new facility, “we have chosen an excellent staff and excellent caregivers,” said Shah, chief of staff for the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System located in Tucson.
Maggie DeVries, a nurse practitioner and primary care provider, is one of the original staff members.
The changes over the years have led to better care for the patients, she said.
Technology provides faster and better services, with the new clinic having the opportunity to take X-rays and send them digitally to the VA center in Tucson, where they are read and the information provided to the clinic staff more rapidly, DeVries said.
It also means VA patients in Cochise County are no longer required to drive to Tucson for chest X-rays.
Other technological advances mean a patient’s record is automatically recorded in a computer, allowing the information to be easily provided to any VA medical facility when needed if a person is not at their home clinic, DeVries said.
“Everything is more accessible,” she said.
Her patients range in age from a mid-20s Iraqi war veteran to a 94-year-old.
For 10 years, Tom Dingwall, who is not 94, has been DeVries’ patient.
Dingwall, chairman of the Arizona Veterans Administration Committee, said he appreciates that he no longer has to make as many trips to Tucson for some treatments or tests. He also praised the VA for doing more to reach out to veterans who have fought in the war against terrorism.
He also appreciates that the VA is looking out for potential problems instead of waiting for a medical emergency to pop up years after a conflict ends.
Noting the Vietnam War, of which he is a veteran, the retired Army lieutenant colonel said, “They (the VA) are watching for the next Agent Orange issue.”
For another veteran, Elmer Urda, 77, of Huachuca City, the clinic continues to give him the opportunity to volunteer, something he has done for years at various VA functions. “Volunteering is beautiful when people reach out to others,” he said.
He began is volunteer work with the VA in 1976, and he has worked with the clinic on Fort Huachuca and now in Sierra Vista since 1997. “We are a compassionate team,” Urda said of the local VA staff and the volunteers.
More clinic information
The new, nearly 10,000-square-foot Veterans Administration Sierra Vista Community Based Outpatient Clinic will cost approximately $340,000 a year to lease the space at 101 N. Coronado Drive.
The annual cost includes utilities and cleaning.
Other operating costs for the clinic were $2 million last year.
The developer was Dean Cotlow, president of Cotlow Co.
The leasing is by George Lawson and Andy Selezonv of Larson Baker Developers.
The architect was Julie Highton of Highton Co.
The clinic is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
No walk-in appointments are available at this facility. For appointments, call (520) 792-1450 or 1-800-470-8262.
Source: VA Sierra Vista Community Based Outpatient Clinic
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
No emergency care in these outpatient clinics.
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