Expanded services, less driving for vets. Work starts on new Tri-Cities VA clinic.
Work has started to build the Kennewick VA Clinic , a Tri-Cities clinic that will be 10 times larger than the current one in the Richland Federal Building and offer far more services. “The impact of this clinic is going to be measured far beyond concrete, brick and mortar,” said Luke Strozewski, acting regional operations officer for the Veterans Administration health service area that includes Washington state, at a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday. “It’s going to be measured by healthier veterans, stronger families and lives that have been improved because the care is available right here in their community,” he said. The new VA clinic building will have about 100,000-square feet, more than 10 times the size of the clinic now in Richland. It will offer not only primary care for veterans but expand offerings to include pharmacy, prosthetics, laboratory services, dental, audiology, optometry, radiology, home-based primary care and support for homeless veterans, all in a modern medical setting. Just this week local VA officials also heard that funding had been made available to offer some specialized cardiology care in the Tri-Cities. The result will be fewer trips for veterans to the Jonathan Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla
