Wilmington to receive new VA clinic

Local veterans say that news of a new Veterans Affairs “super clinic” planned for Wilmington means less hassle and headache for their medical care.

On Tuesday, congressman Mike McIntyre announced plans for a new, 100,000 square foot, $95 million clinic, scheduled to open in Wilmington in July of 2011. While Jacksonville, Wilmington and Hamlet currently have community-based outpatient clinics offering limited services such as primary care and behavioral health, locals routinely drive 100 miles or more to full-service medical centers in Fayetteville and Durham.

McIntyre said that, given the more than 77,000 veterans in southeastern North Carolina, the growth was timely. When he was elected in 1996, McIntyre said, the Fayetteville VA Medical Center was the only regional clinic providing care to veterans. 

“We have now quadrupled our efforts to reach out to veterans in southeastern North Carolina and my district,” he said.

In addition to the planned Wilmington center, future clinics are planned in Brunswick and Robeson counties. While a timeline has not been confirmed for a Brunswick center, the Robeson clinic is scheduled to open in the spring.

Disabled American Veterans Chapter 16 in Jacksonville regularly shuttles veterans to the Fayetteville and Durham centers. In October, DAV commander Peter Franco said the organization transported 94 veterans with a total of 8,238 miles driven. A volunteer-driven operation, 22 volunteers manned the shuttles, putting in a collective 307 hours of transport service.

Franco said he had heard of plans for the Wilmington center, but since details so far are scarce, the DAV would “wait and see” how the plans progressed.

But the prospect of cutting driving time in half would be a boon, he said.

“If it works out, it will be a good thing,” he said. “It would be easier for the veterans; it would be quicker.”

No location for the new facility has been announced yet, as negotiations for the site continue.

A public affairs officer for the VA Medical Center in Fayetteville, James Belmont, said the center would offer ambulatory surgical procedures, dental services, physical therapy and a pharmacy on site.

Paul Siverson, a retired Marine sergeant major and chairman of the board of directors of the Non Commissioned Officers Association, said that a closer center might mean a shorter wait time for Jacksonville veterans who need to take the DAV shuttles.

“If you have an appointment at 8 in the monring, and another guy has an appointment at 4, you have to sit around all day waiting for his appointment (to finish). Wilmington would be so much easier and better,” Siverson said.

“I’ve been up to (the Fayetteville VA Medical Center) three or four times, and it’s exceptional service, but the drive up there is very tedious,” he said.

Paul Levesque, president of the Jacksonville chapter of Rolling Thunder, expressed surprise that, if a new facility was to be built, the town nearest to Camp Lejune was not chosen as a location.

“I don’t know why Wilmington was chosen. I personally would have hoped to see something a little closer to Jacksonville,” Levesque said.

According to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, Wilmington’s New Hanover County is home to slightly more than 19,000 veterans, compared with Onslow County’s 18,200. But according to federal census information, 23.7 percent of Jacksonville’s population is composed of civilian veterans, while 13.5 percent of Wilmington’s citizens are veterans.

Officials with Veteran’s Affairs were not able to answer questions about the location of the proposed facility by press time.

Contact Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.