VA opens rural health clinic

Audrey Gilpin - Mail Staff Writer Mountain Mail-Salida,CO

Grand opening for the Department of Veterans Affairs primary care telehealth outreach clinic in Salida will be at 11 a.m. Jan. 15 at 920 Rush Drive. The clinic, in the same building with Dr. Ralph Wentz on the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center campus, will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Pat Vandenberg, Veterans Affairs deputy undersecretary for health for policy and planning, will speak at the event.

The Salida clinic will be the first of 10 primary care telehealth clinics established with the $7 million budgeted through the department.

Jordan Schupbach, public affairs officer for the department, said the Salida clinic is the first to be operating in Veterans Integrated Service Network 19, which includes Colorado, Utah, Montana and parts of Wyoming.

Another clinic will open in Glenwood Springs, he said.

Medical care will be delivered to veterans at the Salida clinic using the latest in telehealth technology - delivery of health-related services and
information via telecommunications.

Schupbach said patients at the Salida clinic will see and be treated by a physician at Pueblo Community Outpatient Clinic via sophisticated video
conferencing equipment. Medical personnel will also be on site to attend needs of veterans.

Currently, veterans must drive to Pueblo, Denver, Colorado Springs or Alamosa to visit a clinic.

Instead of driving an hour or more to a clinic, Schupbach said, veterans may have a 30 minute telecommunications clinic with a doctor.

In certain circumstances, Schupbach, the doctor will come to Salida and visit face-to-face with a veteran.

If a patient needs emergency care, clinic personnel will call Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center personnel, who will be prepared for arrival of the patient. If surgery is needed, veterans may have their initial appointments at the
clinic with surgery in Denver.

Veterans enrolled and receiving health care through Veterans Affairs may change their preferred facility to Salida. They will be assigned to the
primary care provider and issued an appointment if necessary.

The clinic may be reached at 539-3803.