By Elizabeth Cook
ecook@salisburypost.com
Officials will break ground in Hickory today on a new, expanded clinic for veterans living in a six-county area.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new community-based outpatient clinic, which will replace smaller clinic open since May.
The Hickory clinic is one of 16 the VA operates in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury is its parent facility.
The new clinic should open in late 2010, according to Carol Waters, spokesperson for the Salisbury center. It is expected to be twice as big as the existing clinic, though Waters said there is no final floor plan yet.
Upon completion, the 23,000-square-foot clinic will provide outpatient primary care, mental health, optometry and dental services. Its service area includes Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell and Lincoln counties.
In a press release, Salisbury VA Medical Center Director Carolyn L. Adams said excellent service would be the standard at the Hickory clinic. “Our veterans have earned great care and we are pledged to deliver it in thanks to those who have served our nation in uniform,” Adams said.
Last September, the VA announced a major reorganization aimed at providing more veterans medical care close to their homes.
The plan included turning the Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury into primarily a mental-health and long-term-care facility. Eliminated from the Salisbury facility would be inpatient, emergency and surgical services.
In response to objections from veterans and their congressmen, the VA announced in December that it would review the proposal and delay the Salisbury changes until 2013.
Meanwhile, the VA is moving forward with its plan to expand primary care clinics in Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Hickory so veterans who have been coming to the Hefner VA won’t have to travel as far for services.
Today’s ceremony in Hickory will include remarks from Rep. Patrick McHenry, Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright and Catawba County Commission Chairman Kitty Barnes.
Albert Brese, deputy director, VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, will be the keynote speaker.
For more information about the clinic, contact Carol Waters, public affairs officer, at 704-638-3343.