New Veterans Express Care clinic opens in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - If you're a veteran in Southern Colorado, odds are you've been faced with some hefty wait times when trying to get access to health care. On Wednesday, new patients at the Floyd Lindstrom Veterans Affairs clinic had to wait more than an hour and a half to get primary care.
On Centennial Boulevard on Thursday, the Floyd Lindstrom Veterans Affairs clinic opened a new Veteran Express clinic. It's a fast track to health care without the calls, scheduling, or wait time. The express services are something health professionals say are immensely needed for the veteran community.
"This is a huge step. And we really need it down here. In the Southern Colorado area, specifically in Colorado Springs, we are one of the fastest growing veteran areas in the state, so to have something like this is, is enormous. It's a definite improvement," shared Registered Nurse Traci Herrera.
With 90,000 veterans in Colorado Springs, the VA hopes this will widen the scope of access to health care.
"When we were on active duty, we had a sick call we could go to. And I've been asked for years, why doesn't the VA have something similar to this? Well, guess what, the VA came along with it," explained the Interim Director of VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Paul Roberts.
Now the clinic will offer walk-in services, with no appointment necessary. It's a service Roberts says has been in the works for years.
"It provides that niche we were missing. You know, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, we were seeing patients. If they couldn't get into primary care for one reason or another, they would come and come into our emergency department and sit sometimes for 3 or 4 hours for a minor illness, an issue that if we had something like this, we could have seen them right away," shared Roberts.
Now this new clinic is expected to provide immediate access for veterans in need of care for basic, simple things such as coughs, colds, a bumped knee, etc. It's an effort to alleviate the wait times and bring down the barriers when it comes to serving those who served our country.
"We need this. so, so desperately here. We want to step up for those veterans and be here for those things that they need. And having this walk-in clinic is just another avenue to help support our veterans," explained Herrera.
The clinic will be open on the second floor on Mondays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Roberts says they hope to expand hours and staffing overtime.
"My biggest concern is we want to go from two days open to 2 to 5 days, because I think it's going to be well received. The veterans are going to really like it. So, that's our biggest challenge. But, you know, just, for those of us who've served, you've heard the term crawl, walk, run. That's what we're doing here. We're starting small, and then we're going to build it as demand builds and as we're able to increase staffing and bolster it," shared Roberts.
More details on the new clinic can be found below.
