FINDLAY, Ohio — The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System has announced a new satellite clinic for Findlay and area veterans services leaders say this will improve quality of life.
Until the new clinic, any Hancock County veteran who was part of the VA clinic system has had to travel to either Toledo, Marion or Lima.
But next year, they will have their own local clinic as the Ann Arbor healthcare system has announced plans to renovate the vacant office space on Melrose Avenue into a health clinic that will be able to serve up to 9,000 local veterans.
"The fact that they're going to be offering mental health services, primary care physicians and blood draw services, those are huge benefits to get those services locally," said Nichole Coleman, the executive director of the Hancock County Veterans Services Office.
Veterans who travel to Toledo will have an easy transition into the new office as both offices will be a part of the Ann Arbor system, but won't have to if they don't want to.
Meanwhile, those who go to Marion and Lima, which are in the Columbus and Dayton systems, will have to transfer their primary physician services to the new office.
The new local clinic is expected to remove a lot of the logistical hurdles veterans currently face.
"Now they don't have to take three hours off of work to go to Toledo, or Ann Arbor, or Columbus," said Ed Newton, the resiliency operations manager at the Hancock County Veterans Services Office. "You know, they might be able to hit this in conjunction with a lunch break if they schedule correctly, so, that means more money in the veterans' pocket also."
And with a clinic closer to home, the hope is more veterans who aren't in the system will sign up.
"Veterans who use the VA medical center are at a lower risk for suicide. Not just for that reason, but that is one of the biggest benefits of getting veterans enrolled in the VA medical center," Coleman said. "Maybe they've never been to our office or the VA office. This gives us the opportunity to tell them about our services as well as introduce them to those federal resources as well."
After the estimated $2 million renovations are complete, the plan is to have the new clinic open and serving local veterans by early summer 2024.