New VA clinic to open near mall

A new veterans clinic in Cape Girardeau will be almost three times larger than the current facility and offer new services including mental-health assistance and care for women veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs clinic at the Missouri Veterans Home will close Sept. 25, about a dozen veterans who attended a town hall meeting on the new clinic were told Thursday. The meeting, kicked off by Marc Magill, acting director of the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Mo., was held at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau.

The clinic will reopen Sept. 29 near West Park Mall in the space formerly used by Pier 1 Imports. The new clinic will have 8,000 square feet compared to 3,000 in the current location, house 12 exam rooms compared to seven, and will provide four exam rooms for mental-health treatment and two rooms for women's exams, said Michael Dobbs, one of eight representatives who visited the VFW hall along with Magill.

The staff has recently been expanded with the addition of a primary-care physician, a registered nurse practitioner and a licensed clinical social worker, Dobbs said. The extra space, extra help and extra services should make visiting the clinic an easier, more effective way to receive care, he said.

"What you won't see is people working on top of each other," he said.

The expansion is part of a general VA push to make services more accessible, Magill said. A new clinic is planned for Sikeston, Mo., and expansions are underway in Paragould, Ark., and Farmington, Mo.

New income guidelines implemented in January are also making the VA health system more accessible, said Chuck Hayden, VA public affairs officer at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center. Veterans who need care are now allowed 10 percent higher incomes with no asset test in order to be eligible for care of health issues that are not service related.

That means a single veteran with an income of $32,342 is eligible for free care. A married veteran with no other dependents may receive care with an income of $38,812 or less. The threshold increases by $2,222 for each additional dependent.

"It is a good time to re-enroll," Hayden said. "We want to grow our clinic and serve more veterans."

The expanded services and extra room are needed, said Elmer Schearf, a service officer with the VFW. He said he will try it himself.

"It will help tremendously," Schearf said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

1049 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, MO

3049 William St., Cape Girardeau, MO

2400 Veterans Memorial Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO