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OPENING DELAYED AT SANTA MARIA VA CLINIC --
The VA ordered changes in the building and
has not yet accepted its condition.
Santa Maria VA Clinic
Story here...
http://www.santamariatimes.com/
articles/2007/04/06/news/featurednews/news01.txt,
Story below:
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Opening of VA clinic delayed
By Luis Ernesto Gomez/Staff Writer
A Veterans Affairs clinic in Santa Maria won't be opening until late
summer, six months later than once scheduled, partly because the VA
ordered changes in the building and has not yet accepted its condition.
VA officials said in November that the clinic would be open by March,
but construction setbacks have pushed the opening date tentatively into
August, said contractor Michael John Dick of Aardex, which also owns the
36,000-square-foot structure.
The VA will reportedly lease the building for at least 15 years at $1.1
million a year.
City officials gave the building their stamp of approval in March, but
VA officials who inspected the building earlier this week came up with a
“punch list” of construction details left to finish, Dick said Thursday.
About 50 blue tape marks around the building indicate anything from a
tiny scratch on the wall to restrooms without room numbers, he said.
The work on the “punch list” items - which he says is standard in
government projects - can take up to 60 days with an additional 45 days
to furnish and staff the clinic.
Other than that, Dick said, unexpected weather and orders to make
changes in the building delayed the original finish date. Heavy rain
flooded the work site in October, and a lab was expanded to almost four
times its original size, he said.
Several calls Wednesday and Thursday to the VA's office in Los Angeles
were not returned.
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, who has been a strong advocate for a
local clinic in Santa Maria, reacted to the delays in a written
statement.
“It is unfortunate that there have been some delays in the opening of
this new facility,” Capps said. “Fortunately veterans will not lose any
medical services during this period because the Santa Barbara clinic
will remain open and offering the same services until the Santa Maria
clinic is ready to care for patients.”
Vietnam War veteran Bob Hatch, a Chamber of Commerce executive and
advocate for local veterans, said local veterans are “waiting anxiously”
for the local clinic to open.
Among those anxiously waiting is Joe Chavira of Santa Maria.
The veteran of the Army 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team says he
suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and to treat it he must go
to a VA clinic in Los Angeles about twice a month.
“It's a whole day operation,” said the 76-year-old, who's been using the
LA clinic for the past year.
A typical visit to the doctor begins around 6:30 a.m. when he must drive
to Santa Barbara to catch an 8 a.m. bus to Los Angeles for a three-hour
trip, he said.
Chavira doesn't know yet whether he'll get the psychiatric treatment he
needs locally. But he says other local veterans will be relieved to have
a clinic closer.
“It gets tough for us driving all the way down there,” he said. “We're
not exactly rolling on money.”
The Santa Maria outpatient clinic - which will be operated by the VA
Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System - is expected to be a full-care
facility for veterans to see their primary-care doctors.
The single-story building surrounded by 206 parking spaces at 1500 E.
Main St. houses 45 primary care treatment rooms, five dental rooms, a
lab, an X-ray room, and audiology and optometry treatment rooms, among
other services.
The VA estimates a population of 90,000 veterans in Santa Barbara and
San Luis Obispo counties, according to 2006 figures from the Census
Bureau.
The clinic in Santa Barbara serves just under 30,000 veterans and San
Luis Obispo serves nearly 25,000, a VA spokeswoman said in November.
Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or
lgomez@santamariatimes.com.
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Larry Scott --
