For the 5,000 veterans in Shawnee and the surrounding area, Oct. 24 has been a long time coming.
On that Monday, the Shawnee Veterans Affairs (VA) Outpatient Clinic was open for appointments in the Shawnee Health Plaza, at 3700 N. Kickapoo St., Ste. 100.
A ribbon- cutting ceremony and clinic tours were held for the 5,300-square-foot facility on Oct. 21. It was attended by several veterans and veteran organization representatives, as well as OKC VA Health Care System Director Wade Vlosich, OKC VA Health Care System Associate Director Paul Gregory, VA Public Affairs Specialist Phillip Ybarra, and U.S. Representative Stephanie Bice.
Gregory spoke before the ribbon-cutting, stating that there are already 586 veterans who have requested a transfer to the Shawnee site, which is the furthest East of their clinics.
“We’re excited to celebrate the opening of our 18th outpatient clinic in the proud state of Oklahoma,” he said. “It’s exciting to see this growth.”
Navy Veteran Lawfton Edwards cut the ribbon for the ceremony. Edwards served in 1970 in DaNang during the Vietnam War.
Army Vietnam Veteran Duane Lynn is planning to transfer to Shawnee. He has traveled to the South OKC VA Clinic for many years, after going to the VA Clinic on 13th Street in OKC, followed by the clinics in Konawa and Ada.
Lynn (eventually) received his Purple Heart medal after being wounded during an ambush in Vietnam. His two-year tour was cut short to one year, and he was sent home through California where the reception was less than friendly.
He had to fight for his medal, and he said, “you’ve got to fight all that traffic trying to get up there (to the OKC VA Clinic).”
His friend, Barbara White, Shawnee VFW Auxiliary President, agreed.
“That’s the worst part of the OVAin Oklahoma City. Getting to it, that is a challenge,” said White.
Of course, driving to OKC will still be necessary for major procedures. But the Shawnee clinic will offer a wide variety of services, such as physical therapy, mental health services, laboratory services, primary care services, dermatology, cardiology and orthopedics.
During the tour, Vlosich spoke with several veterans - like Vietnam Veteran Vernon Hoskins, of Shawnee; Navy Veteran Glenn Harris, of McLoud; Army Veteran Terry Longest, of Seminole; and Army Veteran Sharon Johnson, of Shawnee - hearing their complaints and answering questions.
He showed one room which will be used for tele-audiology and virtual eye exams.
“We’re going to have audiology now in all of our clinics,” said Vlosich. “We have teleaudiology. If you need hearing aids, you can just go to your clinic, and it beams over to somebody in Oklahoma City in a sound booth, and they do it all from there.”
Virtual eye exams are done similarly.
“We now have these new machines … that you don’t even need to go to an optometrist or an ophthalmologist,” he said. “It’ll read your eyeglass prescription ... Then what will happen is we’ll have an ophthalmologist over read it just to make sure your prescription is right.”
“But you can sit in this room, and it will go to a doctor that’s OU-VA, Dean McGee. … They review it, and then, there’s your eyeglass prescription to get your eyeglasses.”
Veterans can also use tele-health to visit with their usual primary care providers, or they can switch to the new primary care doctors at the clinic.
Vlosich said the clinic itself has been ready for two months, but they have had “supply chain issues” delaying equipment.
They also had several doctors resign during the COVID-19 pandemic, including seven eye doctors. So, they are building back their workforce. Some of their doctors rotate to all of their clinics.
Vlosich said they hope to be fully staffed at the new clinic by January.
The nurses at the clinic have a wealth of experience. RN Tamara Cummings, of Bethel, has been a VA nurse for 28 years. LPN Becky Vanworth, of Prague, has worked for the VA 18 years. RN Valinda Shelton, of Tecumseh, has been with the VA for 15 years.
Shelton said she is “blessed to be able to take care of our veterans.”
In speaking with Bice, Vlosich voiced his concerns over the supply chain issues and discussed the PACT (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins) Act, which was signed by President Biden on Aug. 10.
Since Congress’s last day in session was Sept. 30, Bice has some time in Oklahoma through the upcoming election. She was spending Saturday attending events in Shawnee and visiting with her constituents.
“Just an exciting day in Shawnee to be able to visit this incredible facility, and I’m excited for our veterans here … that will have a place that they can come locally to get the services they need, whether it’s physical therapy, normal physician services. It’s great to have this facility here in Shawnee now,” said Bice.
Gregory said they have had townhall meetings to share the news with veterans, and they plan to have another townhall meeting before the end of the year.
“So, we can expand the existing site up to 2,400 patients,” said Gregory. “And there’s already 500+ that have already requested a transfer.”
“We’ve had tremendous growth. We are the eighth fastest growing VA in the country, so we’re excited to be able to expand that one. When you have that type of growth, that means patients are choosing to use our services, and we’re happy to, we want to expand and make them have as good of experience as possible.”
For those veterans wishing to transfer to the Shawnee Clinic, call the transfer line and leave a message at 405-456-3053.
