The Gazette - Long-Promised VA Clinic Gets Springs Site, Target Date

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An expanded Veterans Affairs clinic long-promised for Colorado Springs has a building site, a budget and is expected to open in about three years.

The 80,000 square foot facility will go on a vacant lot near the intersection of Centennial Boulevard and Fillmore Street, the VA said Friday.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, who learned of the decision Friday, said the clinic will expand VA's capacity here and offer primary care doctors, dentistry, pharmacy and more. When the new clinic opens in 2014, it will mean fewer veterans will need to drive to Denver for government-funded care.

"It will be more convenient and centrally located and it will have a more complete set of care," said Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican.

VA has been talking about a new clinic here for nearly a decade and Congress has approved $10 million for it, which Lamborn said will serve as a down payment on the new facility.

"It's been a long and hard journey that's taken a lot of work from many people," Lamborn said.

Veteran Gary Moody, commander of The American Legion's Post 5 in downtown Colorado Springs said getting more services in town for the city's burgeoning veteran population is crucial.

For older veterans, getting care in Denver is as stressful as it is inconvenient.

"It's an hour up and an hour back," Moody said. "Getting volunteer drivers for these folks can be a problem."

VA officials said the growing number of veterans in Colorado Springs drove the decision for a bigger clinic. A 2009 Census Bureau estimate found that nearly 72,000 veterans live in El Paso County along with nearly 50,000 active duty troops at the county's five military bases.

The new clinic will be able to serve 18,000 veterans, up from the 12,000 now served by the two smaller facilities in Colorado Springs it will replace.

Services now offered only in Denver, such as CT scans and laboratory work, will be available in Colorado Springs.

"That's great news," said Steve Stewart with the Disabled American Veterans in Colorado Springs.

The facility will include offices for the Veterans Benefit Administration, where exams to determine veterans benefits will be conducted, and a center where veterans can get small business advice.

A big focus at the clinic will be mental health care.

Demand for military and VA mental health services has spiked in the past decade amid an increase in veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Developers will be asked to bid on the project in June, said Jeriann Afcione, a program specialist with VA in Denver who is overseeing the clinic project.

The VA won't own the new site. Instead a developer will build the clinic to VA specifications and make money by leasing it to the government on a long-term basis, Afcione said.

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