Clinic for veterans to open in Fremont

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jun 24, 2009 | by Matthew Artz

FREMONT -- Local veterans won't have to travel as far for a doctor's appointment beginning in early 2010.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has signed a lease on a 10,000- square-foot building at 39191-39217 Liberty St. in central Fremont, where it will provide primary medical and mental health care for Southern Alameda County veterans, at least until 2015.

The clinic, slated to open in January, initially will be staffed by three doctors and three mental health professionals, said Dr. Ellen Shibata, deputy chief of staff for the department's Livermore division.

Veterans still will need to go to the department's ambulatory care center in Livermore for specialty care and to its hospital in Palo Alto for surgery.

The Fremont clinic might be open only for five years, depending on where the department chooses to build a 75,000-square-foot East Bay multispecialty care center.

If the center, which will replace the department's 80-year-old Livermore facility, is built near Fremont, the department likely then would close the Fremont clinic.

If it is built farther away, the clinic could remain open, Shibata said.

A decision on the location of the permanent facility is expected later this year.

When completed, the multispecialty care center will offer primary care, mental health counseling, rehabilitation, a pharmacy and several specialty clinics, including those for cardiology, podiatry and eye care.

A 120-bed nursing home at the Livermore center will be relocated to San Joaquin County, where the department also plans to build a new care center.

Meanwhile, the Fremont clinic will provide veterans with regular checkups, health screenings, referrals and some rehabilitation services.

There are approximately 46,000 veterans living in East Bay communities from San Leandro to Fremont, compared with about 11,000 combined in the Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore areas.

"We absolutely see a need to provide services to veterans in the East Bay," department spokeswoman Kerri Childress said.

Reach Matthew Artz at 510-353-7002 or martz@bayareanewsgroup.com. Read his blog posts at www.ibabuzz.com/tricitybeat/.>

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