Lubbock’s new Veterans Administration clinic unveiled forward of opening
Lubbock will quickly have a VA clinic to be happy with. The brand new Lubbock
Lubbock will quickly have a VA clinic to be happy with.
The brand new Lubbock VA Outpatient Clinic on 4th Avenue and Indiana Avenue, throughout the road from the Texas Tech College Well being Sciences Middle, will open on Tuesday, June 1.
The $12.3 million, multi-story facility will supply 94,000 sq. toes of scientific house and new providers. Of the numerous new providers are surgical care, a watch clinic, radiology providers, bodily drugs and rehabilitation, and extra.
In response to the Amarillo Veterans Administration Well being Care System, the brand new constructing will permit for expanded major care, psychological well being, telehealth, dental and pharmacy providers.
Dr. Rodney Gonzalez, director of the Amarillo VA Well being Care System, which the Lubbock VA falls below, says the brand new clinic is greater than thrice bigger than the present facility. He mentioned it is a fashionable clinic, including that it is a facility that the area can be happy with.
“While you enter this facility, you may see a dedication that this nation has made to caring for our veterans,” Gonzalez says. “We’re right here to care for veterans.”
Gonzalez says providers that veterans beforehand needed to drive hours to get will now be supplied on the Lubbock clinic.
Gonzalez hopes extra veterans in Lubbock make the most of the VA Well being Care System with this new facility. He says about 10,000 veterans are being served on the present location, and he expects that quantity to extend.
To all of the veterans within the Lubbock area, Gonzalez says give the brand new Lubbock VA Outpatient Clinic an opportunity.
In gentle of the opening subsequent week, a ribbon chopping ceremony was held on the new VA clinic on Tuesday morning. Members of the Veterans Well being Administration spoke about what the power will supply the group, and veterans have been there to tour the brand new facility.
Dr. Wendell Jones, performing director on the Veterans Built-in Service Community (VISN) No. 17 in Arlington, mentioned the brand new facility will proceed to characteristic nice healthcare professionals.
“To our veterans in attendance, that is about you in the present day,” Jones mentioned on the ceremony. “This facility offers extra space for veterans, and it offers us the chance to supply extra providers as nicely.”
U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, and Dr. Tedd Mitchell, chancellor of the Texas Tech College System, spoke of the greater than decade-long efforts to get the funding and open this facility. Arrington says the women and men who sacrifice for this nation deserve the most effective providers.
“This constructing is not only a home of therapeutic for our wounded warriors, it’s a monument of braveness, it’s a image of the final word sacrifice, and it’s a sober reminder that freedom is not free,” Arrington mentioned.
A brand new VA clinic in Lubbock is a very long time coming. It had been mentioned for years, after which 4 retired generals from Lubbock in 2009 created a 16-member committee to have a look at bettering veteran well being care on this space. The generals have been Lt. Gen. Bernhard Mittemeyer, Maj. Gen. Walter Huffman, Maj. Gen. Edgar Murphy and Brig. Gen. Gary Harber.
After the committee met, they mentioned it was apparent {that a} new location was wanted, ideally near Tech’s Well being Sciences Middle, to make the most of specialty medical doctors, college students and gear. Mitchell mentioned what adopted was greater than a decade of perseverance, and he mentioned it took lots of people to make this clinic occur, together with Lubbock’s former U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman of the Home Veterans Affairs Committee.
“This can be a token to our veterans, it’s an honor to them,” Mittemeyer mentioned in 2019 throughout the groundbreaking ceremony for the clinic. “Once they drive by it, they’ll say, ‘That’s my clinic.’ It received’t be in some native space the place no one even is aware of what the constructing is. It represents the worth and the dedication to our veterans.”
Mittemeyer was on the ribbon chopping on Tuesday, and he once more mentioned how thrilled he’s with the situation of the brand new facility. He says it is nice that college students at TTUHSC can have extra alternatives to work with veterans.
The brand new facility is aimed toward addressing a couple of key, and vital, points: location, house, providers and, possibly simply as essential, notion.
In late 2013, the U.S. Home handed HR 3521, the Division of Veterans Affairs Main Medical Facility Lease Authorization Act, that authorized funding for the creation of a number of main veterans services in states together with Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. HR 3521 included the Amarillo VA Well being Care System’s request for a brand new clinic in Lubbock.
Development on the power started in 2019.