NEWS

VA to begin construction of planned Springfield clinic this month

Thomas Gounley
TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin construction on a long-planned clinic in Springfield later this month.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin construction on a long-planned clinic in Springfield later this month.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held for the Gene Taylor Community Outpatient Clinic at 1 p.m. on Oct. 25, according to a Wednesday news release from the Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, which oversees operations in southwest Missouri.

The event will be held in the parking lot of Southland Christian Church at 1630 W. Republic Road; the church is adjacent to the site of the planned clinic.

Last November, VA officials estimated that the Springfield clinic — which at one point was forecast to open in early 2015 — would open its doors in late 2018 or early 2019. The Springfield clinic will replace an existing VA clinic in Mt. Vernon. A second clinic is also planned for Joplin.

A regional VA official said last year that the move will allow the VA to serve an estimated 14,000 veterans in the cities — 9,000 in Springfield and 5,000 in Joplin — who have not been traveling to Mt. Vernon.

Services offered to veterans in the Springfield clinic will include primary care, mental health, dental, radiology, optometry, sleep lab, prosthetics and pulmonary function. Ancillary services such as lab and radiology will also be offered.