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VETERANS IN SPOKANE AND NORTHERN IDAHO MAY GET
MORE SERVICES -- VA plans to expand facilities
and services in Pacific Northwest.
Some background on the Spokane VA and the
troubles they've had in the past year...here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/nfNOV06/nf112206-1.htm
Story here...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/
6420AP_WA_VA_Hospital_Director.html
Story below:
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Veterans in northern Idaho, Spokane may get more services
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The director of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center
retired this week, but not before announcing some expansion plans in
Spokane and northern Idaho.
Joe Manley, a Vietnam veteran, spent a dozen years as director of the VA
hospital in Spokane, which serves some 23,000 veterans in the region.
Manley, 59, presided over a period of technological advances and a 130
percent increase in clients at the hospital.
Manley said his successor should expect more of the same. By 2012, the
number of veterans the hospital serves is projected to jump to 33,000 a
year.
Manley revealed preliminary plans for a $5 million outpatient clinic in
northern Idaho and a $7 million expansion of specialty clinics and
pharmacy services in Spokane.
"We're optimistic," said Manley, who spent part of Wednesday saying
goodbye to many of the 650 employees at the northwest Spokane hospital.
A new VA clinic is set to open in Wenatchee in April.
Tentative plans for a similar facility in Idaho call for a 10,000- to
20,000-square-foot clinic on the Highway 95 corridor between Coeur
d'Alene and Sandpoint, said Jane Schilke, the hospital's associate
director. The clinic would include a staff of about six doctors, nurses
and counselors and serve an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 patients who now
travel to Spokane.
The main hospital expansion would provide more examination rooms and
space for the pharmacy, which last year filled more than 600,000
prescriptions, Manley said.
Schilke will supervise daily operations at the hospital until a new
director is chosen by the secretary of veterans affairs, probably by
June. Six finalists are being considered for the job, which paid Manley
$156,000 a year.
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Larry Scott
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