The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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  • Wall adornment will come, but patients come first at the new Veterans Affairs Clinic in Mankato, which opened Monday. The program has expanded to offer primary medical care in addition to mental health services for area military veterans. John Cross

    VA Clinic

April 11, 2011

Mankato VA Clinic opens

By Brian Ojanpa The Free Press

MANKATO — A new Mankato clinic for area military veterans offers something its predecessor did not — primary medical care.

The Mankato VA Clinic opened Monday in new quarters on Premier Drive, offering comprehensive primary care in addition to the mental health services that had been provided in its previous Madison Avenue location.

“This will be a wonderful addition for Mankato-area veterans who have waited so long for this service,” said Sue Worlds, regional director for Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans.

The new facility is part of a thrust by the Department of Veterans Affairs to make care access easier for veterans with a goal of having a clinic within a 30-mile radius of every vet.

That’s good news for veteran Ben Wolske, who was among the first to avail themselves of services at the new clinic.

Wolske lives near Waseca and previously had to trek to the VA Clinic in St. James for medical care.

“This is 50 miles shorter,” he said of the Mankato clinic. “The St. James clinic is nice, but half or three-quarters of your day was shot” by having to go there.

The St. James VA clinic also opened in new quarters last week. That and the Mankato facility are under contract with Ohio-based Sterling Medical Associates, which operates community-based VA outpatient clinics nationwide.

Veterans Affairs spokesman Ralph Heussner said the network of  statewide VA clinics offering primary medical care should equate to more usage by veterans, who often look askance at driving long distances for services.

“It’s been our experience that when new clinics open veterans come and use the service,” he said. “We expect the new clinics to increase enrollments.”

Heussner said projections call for about 1,200 area veterans to be served at the Mankato clinic. There are more than 5,400 eligible veterans in south-central Minnesota.

The Mankato and St. James clinics will host open houses April 30.   

 

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