Colorado Springs VA clinic holds “Stand Down” event to combat wait times

It’s come under fire repeatedly, and now the PFC Lindstrom VA Clinic in Colorado Springs is taking steps to remedy long wait times.

On Saturday, the Denver VA Medical Center and PFC Lindstrom VA Clinic scheduled appointments for close to 360 patients, especially those needing urgent and critical care.

The clinics joined with others nationwide to participate in the “National Access Stand Down” event.

The immediate goal of the event was to connect with veterans who have urgent health care needs, address their needs and reduce the number of veterans waiting greater than 30-days for urgent care.

“We’re not going to rest until veterans get the appointments that they want ,” said Daniel Warvi, VA Spokesman.

Veterans say the event couldn’t have come sooner.

“It feels like… they’ll take care of me when they can. As opposed to when I was in the fight, it was something we needed to fix right now. I’m still in the same pain, so they should look at my pain the same way,” six-year army veteran Jonathan Dozier said.

The event was the second of its kind, but Warvi hopes they won’t have to continue.

“Our goal is to get out of the Stand Down business. If we constantly talk to our veterans, if we make sure we’re doing things appropriately, we shouldn’t need one of these again.”

Those wanting to make appointments can also visit http://www.va.gov/, according to Warvi.