(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) and Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, Friday announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to open a new community-based clinic in Pine Bluff, AR.
 
The members of the delegation said the new facility, called community-based outpatient clinics, will provide health care services to 1,012 existing patients and 338 new patients. Services provided by the clinic will include comprehensive primary care, health promotion, and routine and urgent care procedures. Mental health services will include a wide range of outpatient mental health services to include medication management, substance abuse treatment, individual and group counseling and evaluation and/or therapy.

“I am proud that veterans in Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas will finally have a more accessible location to receive healthcare,” Ross said. “I will continue to demand the very best in healthcare for our nation’s veterans who have sacrificed their lives for our country and we should ensure that they receive the benefits they were promised when they signed up to serve this great nation. I will continue working on behalf of our veterans and their families and I am pleased that the Department of Veterans Affairs recognized the need to locate a clinic in this region.”

“Without question, veterans in all rural areas should have better access to quality health care,” Pryor said. “This clinic is greatly needed to reduce drive time and wait lists. I’ve been working with the VA on this effort for sometime to help fulfill America’s commitment to veterans in Pine Bluff.”
 
“Arkansas is home to approximately 270,000 veterans, many of them living in South Arkansas,” Lincoln said.  “With an aging veterans population and more servicemen and women returning from overseas service, it is essential that we do everything we can not only to provide them the quality of care they deserve but also to ensure they have access to that care. This is great news for our veterans.”
 
“VA is committed to providing would-class health care to the men and women who have served this nation,” VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said. “These new clinics will bring VA’s top-notch care closer to the veterans who have earned it.”
 
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