New veterans clinic opening

Veterans in North Idaho will no longer have to travel to Spokane for routine appointments when a new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic opens Tuesday in Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s going to save a lot of driving,” said Dusty Rhoads, president of the Panhandle chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. “We’ve been pushing for this for years.”

The clinic at 2177 Ironwood Center Drive is an interim location while the VA searches for a permanent Coeur d’Alene home for its primary care and laboratory services. It will start with one to two doctors and then add another doctor in March, said Chuck Marsden, executive assistant to the VA Hospital director in Spokane.

Mental health services will be offered at the Coeur d’Alene clinic in three to four months, Marsden said.

Veterans will still have to go to the VA Hospital in Spokane for specialized treatment and may choose to continue going there if they don’t want to switch doctors.

“We’ve sent out letters to about 4,700 veterans in North Idaho who come here, letting them know they can transfer care,” Marsden said.

Rhoads said he likes his Spokane health-care team and won’t be switching to the Coeur d’Alene clinic, but he knows many veterans would rather be treated close to home. Some haven’t been able to make the trip to Spokane or been able to afford it, he said.

“A lot of people who haven’t been treated by the VA will hopefully be able to now with them here,” Rhoads said.

For veterans in Bonner and Boundary counties the new clinic will transform a trip that used to take a full day into one that can be done in a single morning or afternoon.

“They can get to Coeur d’Alene in 45 minutes rather than two hours to Spokane,” said Bonner County Veterans Services Officer Don Carr.

Carr said about 5,100 veterans live in Bonner County with another 1,500 in Boundary County. Not all are treated by the VA, however.

In addition to making treatment more convenient for veterans living in North Idaho, the new clinic will reduce crowding at the VA Hospital in Spokane which serves abut 24,000 veterans a year.

Marsden said the interim Coeur d’Alene clinic is located in a former urology office. It cost $27,000 to renovate and will cost the VA another $93,000 for a one year lease.

Congress authorized $1.7 million last year for the new Coeur d’Alene clinic.