<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1Ax6W7_1EfPK1Vo00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1Ax6W7_1EfPK1Vo00" width="806" height="1080" >SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Schenectady VA clinic officially closed its doors at 4:30PM on Friday. After months of pushback from veterans and lawmakers the closure still happened. The VA says the clinic is closing because of cost, geographical overlap, and a declining veteran population.News10’s Tyanna Xavier asked Dave Lucier, a veteran who was utilizing the Schenectady VA clinic how he felt knowing Friday was the last day the clinic will be open. He responded, “It sucks because I used them for ten years, and now we’re getting transferred.”Lucier served 22 years in the U.S. Army. He has eight pieces of steel in his body and has used the Schenectady VA clinic for a variety of services. “They do my meds, and they take care of my PTSD and all this other kind of stuff. Everybody that was at the Schenectady VA clinic, they knew our history. They knew all this stuff, and now they’re going to transfer them to Albany. And I’m just afraid that they’re not going to get the connections,” said Lucier.Nathaniel Weisenburn is another veteran who receives care at the Clifton Park VA clinic and says a lot of veterans go through a lot, so rebuilding that connection could be hard.“We get hurt, we deal with mental strife, we see things that we’re not supposed to see necessarily; now they have to go reestablish those relationships with new caregivers, which is a very trusting relationship that you got to establish, which doesn’t always come easy for veterans,” said Weisenburn, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years and is the Commander at the American Legion Niskayuna Post 1092.Veterans are also concerned about having to travel farther for care. “There’s a bunch of vets that don’t want to drive 15, 20 extra miles to do stuff,” said Lucier. News 10’s Tyanna Xabier asked, Lucier, “Do a lot of these vets not have transportation to get there?” Lucier responded, “Yeah, that’s exactly correct.”Congressman Paul Tonko and Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara have both sent letters to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs asking it to pause the closure. But people inside the clinic on Friday were packing up the office.“We all took that oath, we all swore to defend, you know, our Constitution and the government that supports it. And to find out that the government is not necessarily taking the same efforts to continue to take care of us at the long run, it really is disappointing,” said Weisenburn.Weisenburn says veterans who have questions about the benefits they’re entitled to can attend a breakfast every Saturday from 8 to 10:30 a.m. at the Niskayuna American Legion.VA Clinic Locations:<ul><li>Clifton Park VA Clinic — 963 Route 146, Clifton Park, NY</li><li>Samuel S. Stratton Albany VA Medical Center — 113 Holland Avenue</li><li>Albany, NY </li><li>Fonda VA Clinic — 2623 State Highway 30A, Fonda, NY</li><li>Glens Falls VA Clinic — 101 Ridge Street, Glens Falls, NY</li></ul></div></body>

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SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Schenectady VA clinic officially closed its doors at 4:30PM on Friday. After months of pushback from veterans and lawmakers the closure still happened. The VA says the clinic is closing because of cost, geographical overlap, and a declining veteran population. News10’s Tyanna Xavier asked...

Schenectady VA clinic officially closed

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