| Offices : Beckley • Charleston • Fairmont • Martinsburg • Washington, DC | E-mail Senator Rockefeller |
January 8, 2001
ROCKEFELLER SECURES VA CLINIC FOR MINGO COUNTY
-- New Outpatient Clinic is Expected to be Operational by End of Summer --
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) announced today that a Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) has been approved for Williamson in Mingo County.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will now solicit bids to contract with an existing health care provider in Williamson to provide primary and preventive health care for veterans. That care will be paid for by the VA.
Rockefeller said, "Veterans are better served when they have access to health care closer to home. Last year, I contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs and asked that they consider Mingo County for a VA community-based clinic. With our veteran population aging, it becomes even more critical to bring VA medical care closer to the communities where our veterans live."
As the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Rockefeller successfully fought for passage of the 1996 Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act directing the VA to establish more community-based outpatient clinics across the country. This VA clinic is the result of that legislation and is part of the VA’s effort to provide veterans across the country with better access to health care facilities.
The Williamson clinic will be under the jurisdiction of the Huntington VA Medical Center. Like all other VA outpatient clinics across the country, veterans will still have to travel to their VA medical center for medical procedures beyond general primary care.
In addition to the VA clinic in Williamson, Rockefeller recently announced a joint venture between the Huntington VA Medical Center and Marshall University. This partnership will allow the VA to provide health care services to veterans living in the Logan County area at the family practice office of Logan physician Dr. Harry Fortner.
Rockefeller continued, "I am enormously pleased with the effort made by staff at the Huntington VA Medical Center in addressing the needs of the many veterans who live in Logan and Mingo Counties. I am certain these new VA clinics will help improve the health and lives of many West Virginia veterans."
Rockefeller expects VA to be able to begin providing health care to veterans in Williamson by this summer. For further information about enrolling for VA health care in either Logan or Mingo County, veterans should contact the Huntington VA Medical Center at 1-800-824-8277, ext. 2504.
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