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Vets' clinic set for Brattleboro (Brattleboro Reformer)

By Howard Weiss-Tisman, Reformer Staff

BRATTLEBORO -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will open a health clinic in Brattleboro, the members of Vermont's Congressional delegation announced Tuesday.

Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., a member of the Senate Veterans Committee, said he requested the funding for the clinic in southern Vermont so veterans from throughout the region would not have to travel to White River Junction for medical care.

"We desperately need this veterans' health clinic in southeastern Vermont," Sanders said. "This clinic will bring health care closer to our veterans so they don't need to travel all the way to White River to get the care they deserve. If men and women put their lives on the line in defense of this nation, promises made to them must be kept."

Sanders said the VA chose Brattleboro based upon the number of veterans in southern Vermont, as well as those from southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, that live within easy driving distance of Brattleboro.

"I'm really excited about this," said Sanders. "It's going to improve the quality of care."

Phil Reeve, commander of the American Legion Post 37 in Bellows Falls, said his post routinely organizes car and bus rides for veterans seeking care in White River Junction.

The new Brattleboro clinic will make it easier for local veterans and their families, Reeve said.

"We do have an awful lot of veterans going to White River Junction
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and quite often, if the veteran can't drive, we have people to get them up there," said Reeve. "I think this is marvelous. Sen. Sanders has worked very hard for veterans and we appreciate all of the efforts he has made on our behalf."

Sanders, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., first wrote to New England VA officials last February asking for the funding to support a clinic in Brattleboro.

The 2008-2012 VA New England Healthcare System Strategic Plan found that veterans in the region were having trouble accessing services.

Sanders, Leahy and Welch urged New England network director Dr. Jeannette Chirico-Post to help secure the funding for the Brattleboro clinic.

"I am very pleased the VA has heeded our call to extend its outreach to Southeastern Vermont," Welch said in prepared statement Tuesday. "It is critical that we treat our veterans with the respect they deserve and continue to serve them as they so bravely have served us."

Sanders invited Secretary James Peake to Vermont this summer and discussed the proposed Brattleboro clinic with him during the visit.

Peake notified Sanders that the new clinic will soon be officially approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A spokeswoman from the White River Junction VA Medical Center said she had not yet received the official word on the proposed Brattleboro facility and could not comment on the location, size or hours of the new clinic.

According to Terry Jemison, a spokesman for the VA office of media relations in Washington, D.C., the VA health care system has been putting more resources into community-based outpatient clinics.

Veterans can get access to primary care physicians, laboratory tests, medications, mental health services and preventative services such as flu shots at the clinics.

"We have had a steady increase of these community based outpatient clinics nationally in recent years," Jemison wrote in an e-mail message. "This is an important component of our network of facilities around the country."

Sanders said that it may take some time before the Brattleboro clinic is open, but that it definitely is in the project pipeline.

Ron Wetherby, commander of American Legion Post 5 in Brattleboro, said veterans and their families have been waiting a long time for the announcement that was made Tuesday.

"People are going up there almost every day. Some of them are elderly and they have to wait all day for a van sometimes. I was hoping they would pull this off and it looks like they did," said Wetherby. "We've been praying for this for a long time."