The prospect of a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic locating in Iola took a positive turn earlier this week, according to Carolyn McLean, who is spearheading the effort.
After a private audience with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran on Monday afternoon to discuss the issue, McLean said the senator came away duly impressed and said he would “strongly recommend,” such a facility, McLean said Wednesday morning.
Financing for the clinic is “already in the bag,” McLean said by way of President Barack Obama’s pledge that by the end of 2013, 500,000 U.S. veterans will have access to health care in rural communities.
“We probably just have one shot at this, and this is it,” McLean said.
The deadline to submit an application for the clinic is March 15, 2012.
“It’ll take the next nine months to get the necessary information for the application,” McLean said, including the services needed for the expected population such a clinic would serve.
AT A MEETING of Allen County Hospital trustees Tuesday night, trustee Jay Kretzmeier relayed a message from McLean asking if they would consider giving land for the prospective clinic, which has been included in drawings of the hospital campus along U.S. 54 east of town.
McLean estimates the clinic would need about 1.7 acres. There are almost 20 acres in the site. Other buildings would include a medical arts center.
Trustees did not take action on McLean’s request.
McLean said a gift of the land would show that Iola is a “veteran-friendly” community and likely would influence the approval of the application.
She sees the clinic as an “automatic feeder” to the new hospital as well as to local physicians and pharmacists who would contract with Veterans Affairs to provide its services to veterans in southeast Kansas.
Chanute and Garnett offer services to veterans one day a week through a physician and nurse who travel from Topeka; Fort Scott has a clinic open five days a week.
McLean envisions the clinic as a site for specialists for veterans and the general public.
“It’s a win-win for the medical community,” she said, noting how it would be a draw to specialists such as an orthopedic surgeon, a dermatologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, and those who specialize in geriatrics.
The clinic would be a boon to the hospital’s bottom line not only in attracting additional patients, but also through its requests for X-rays and other types of scans that the hospital would provide.
McLean sees the VA clinic providing critical mental health services to returning service men and women who suffer from the stresses of combat. The clinic also could serve as an urgent care center for after-hours cases that do not demand the services of a hospital’s emergency room.
“With the addition of this clinic, Iola could be the hub of medical care for southeast Kansas,” McLean said, her enthusiasm evident.
McLean is to meet again with Sen. Moran in mid-June.
“By then I hope to know the status of the land,” for the clinic, she said.
THE CLINIC has moved to the front burner of McLean’s original vision of a VA nursing home and assisted living center north of town simply because of its greater chances of getting funded, she said.
Even though Iola has agreed to give 20 acres next to the Cedarbrook golf course complex for the development, it requires the approval of Gov. Sam Brownback.
McLean fears Brownback’s eagerness to trim state funding would nix the chances for the facility. The $8 million nursing home would depend on state and federal funds with a 35/65 mix respectively.
McLean said the facility’s best hope lies in Brownback’s perception that it would create jobs and approve it as an economic development opportunity.
“It would mean 100 new jobs for our community,” McLean said. “What better way to grow our economy?”
Bringing the clinic to Iola is not contingent on the location of the nursing home and assisted living facility for veterans also being here, McLean said, but she thinks if one were to locate here, chances would improve that the other would, too.
Brownback is to decide the fate of the nursing home/assisted living center by the end of June, McLean said.
“If he says no, it’s over,” she said of the facility’s chances.
