VA outpatient clinic coming to Villages in 2010

VA outpatient clinic coming to Villages in 2010

Christine Show Sentinel Staff Writer

June 16, 2008

THE VILLAGES - It's become a long trip for Harold Sievers to drive fellow veterans to Gainesville's Veterans Affairs' medical center.Now Sievers, 75, a volunteer transport driver, looks forward to shorter rides to a new regional VA outpatient clinic in The Villages that is expected to open in spring 2010.Groundbreaking on the 90,000-square-foot facility is set for 10 a.m. today at a ceremony on Mulberry Lane. U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, will be the keynote speaker. Stearns is deputy Republican leader on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.Sievers, president of the All Military Veterans Unit in The Villages, is excited.

"It's been a long time in the coming for us to be getting a clinic, which has been so desperately needed," Sievers said.The facility will be an expansion to the temporary VA clinic in the retirement community on Laurel Manor Drive, said Mary Kay Hollingsworth, public-affairs officer for the VA's North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System.Residents in east Lake County have recently been able to receive services from a VA hospital that opened in Orange City in Volusia County in early May.

WHO'S ELIGIBLE? The clinic will serve veterans in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties, who are among 125,000 Central Florida veterans. The Villages, and the surrounding Central Florida area, is deemed to be a prime location for veterans in need of medical treatment.

WHAT SERVICES WILL BE OFFERED? A 90,000-square-foot outpatient clinic is being built to support a number of services to veterans. Patients can receive treatment in areas such as audiology, dental, orthopedics, women's health, cardiology, eye care and podiatry. A diagnostics lab, a pharmacy and mental-health services will also be available.

WHERE IS THE CLINIC? The facility will be on Mulberry Lane in Marion County just off SE Highway 42. WHAT'S THE TIMETABLE FOR OPENING? After the groundbreaking today, The Hamstra Group Inc. is to begin building the facility in late June or early July. Construction is expected to be completed in early 2010, and the facility is to open in spring 2010.

Christine Show can be reached at cshow@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5917.