Expanding Health Care Services for Our Veterans

Nov. 6, 2015

If all goes as scheduled, northern Michigan veterans will soon have a new annex providing some specific health care services. Officials have agreed to lease a 16,000-square-foot building at 880 Munson Ave. in Traverse City to house services for veterans needing physical therapy, primary care and mental health services in their homes.

“We are eager to see the Traverse City annex open so we may relocate mental health, physical therapy and home-based primary care, freeing up needed space in the existing Traverse City clinic for our primary care clinics,” said Peggy Kearns, medical center director at the Aleda E. Lutz Medical Center in Saginaw, which oversees Traverse City veterans clinic operations. “We are pleased to see progress being made on the replacement and expansion of the new Traverse City clinic.”

Work will soon begin on the building’s interior, which sits just west of Three Mile Road.

“Renovations will take a few months to complete,” estimated Carrie Stewart, public affairs officer for the Veterans Administration. “It is anticipated we may see a move to the annex in February or March 2016.”

Relocating those services to the annex will free space in the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Traverse City, which provides health care services for thousands of veterans from Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Lake, Leelanau and Manistee counties. Located at 3271 Racquet Club Dr. in Logan’s Landing, the clinic opened in October 1999. It offers primary care services, mental health services, individual and group counseling, lab services, physical therapy and more.

In fiscal year 2014, it served 4,867 veterans. Those are what the VA terms “unique patients,” meaning individual cases and not multiple visits by the same veterans. At the end of July 2015, clinic staff had already seen 5,023 veterans, according to data provided by VA officials in Saginaw.

With 39 full-time staff clinicians, Traverse City’s clinic serves one of the largest outpatient veteran populations in the state and is very well utilized, according to Chuck Lerchen, director of veterans services for Grand Traverse, Benzie and Leelanau counties.

“Couldn’t be more pleased about the annex finally opening to relieve crowding while the new facility is established,” said Lerchen. “It will present its own challenges, with services being spread between two locations, but as long as they continue their forward progress on the new facility we will make do.”

Northern Michigan vets are already making do as it is, according to Lerchen. A $7.5 million expansion for a new Traverse City clinic was included in the 2012 VA budget, but after several delays, federal officials estimate the new clinic is still more than a year away.

“We don’t lose sight of the fact that this has been over three years in the making to get to this point,” he said. “VA gave the green light to this project back in 2012. This annex should have been opened two years ago and we should be moving into the new location by now, in our opinion. While we truly appreciate the expansion in needed services, we find it difficult to pass out brownie points to the VA officials responsible for our clinic facility expansion for mediocre performance. Sometimes I think they lose sight of who they work for — the taxpayers. Our veterans have entrusted and are dependent for their health care to VA.”

“Real Property in Washington, D.C. is coordinating site selection for the new Traverse City Community Based Outpatient Clinic, with participation by our key staff responsible for space and expansions,” said Stewart. “This new clinic is anticipated to be completed in 2017. The new clinic solicitations for bid have been completed for the sites. Sites are now being reviewed by the team and will be evaluated before a selection can be made.”

“I am glad that they are willing to go on record with early next year for the annex and 2017 for the new clinic,” said Lerchen. “That is now the expectation we have and the expectation we, at the local level, will do everything we can to hold them to. They haven’t hit one established date for anything so far, so we will remain cautiously optimistic they will — for the sake of those that rely on them for care — hit these dates. There really is no acceptable excuse not to.”

Rep. Dan Benishek spent 20 years as a VA doctor treating patients at the Iron Mountain, Mich., facility. He praised the plan for the annex.

“I am pleased that the VA is moving forward with this critical expansion of the clinic in Traverse City,” said Benishek, chairman of the Veterans Health Subcommittee. “This facility serves so many veterans, especially those in the rural areas, who depend on it for access to care. I will continue to monitor the VA’s progress on this move and I look forward to seeing the expanded facility open to serve soon.”