New, improved VA clinic ready to serve those in need

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November 10, 2009

By TRICIA NEAL, Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Tue Nov 10, 2009, 08:53 PM EST

Somerset — “Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan...”

That phrase, spoken by Abraham Lincoln more than a century ago, is now the mission statement of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs — and of VA hospitals and clinics nationwide.

Now veterans in Pulaski and surrounding counties have a new and improved facility in which to receive health care services.

“To better serve the veterans of Somerset and the surrounding areas, we have relocated our Somerset VA Clinic to a new and more spacious location,” announced Sandy J. Nielsen, Director of Lexington’s VA Medical Center.

The clinic opened to patients Monday, and a grand opening celebration was held yesterday.

Nielsen said the move to a more spacious clinic was “long overdue” for the very busy facility.

The new location of the Somerset VA Clinic is 163 Tower Circle in the MedPark West Medical Campus off Hail Knob Road. The clinic was formerly located on Hardin Lane.

The clinic, more than double the size of its former location, is staffed with the same VA personnel veterans have come to know and trust.

The Somerset VA Clinic offers veterans primary and related preventive care services by appointment only. The clinic offers a full range of services, from general care to psychiatric services, and from hospitalization to substance abuse counseling.

Primary care physician Dr. Michael Thomas said the clinic serves 4,200 patients from Pulaski and numerous other counties.

The new facility, he said, would allow the clinic to serve “1,000 more.”

“We have more room to work now, and there’s room for expansion,” Thomas noted.

Thomas, himself a U.S. Army veteran, practiced medicine in Somerset privately from 1965 until 2002 when he came to work at the then-newly opened Somerset VA Clinic.

“I believe in what I do,” he said. “And I especially believe in taking care of veterans. ... I’m proud of this facility because we will be able to provide a lot of good care here.”

The facility offers plenty of parking spaces and is handicapped accessible.

A team of 21 VA health care professionals and five administrative support staff manage the clinic weekdays from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., except on federally observed holidays.

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