Vets Want Central County VA Clinic

CREST HAVEN – Vince Kane said good news is on the way for Cape May County veterans. It could mean better health care and more services in the county through the Veterans Administration.
Kane and others spoke to a group of veterans July 15 at the Cape May County Police Academy in the Crest Haven complex about plans for a new clinic in the county.
Kane’s the director of the Wilmington (Del.) VA Medical Center which also covers South Jersey.
He plans to open a new medical clinic for veterans in Cape May County. Saturday was the second meeting held in the county seeking input on the clinic from the people who will use it.
Local veterans want it centrally located, and ready to serve seniors, especially in a resort area like Cape May County, where many come to retire.
Dental services and facilities for treating the lifelong impact of traumatic brain injuries were also raised as potential services.
The Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May has housed a VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, referred to at the meeting as a CBOC, for about 20 years.
That clinic is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, offering primary care services, help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more.
It’s housed in a small building on Munro Avenue on the base. While Kane said the VA is grateful for the cooperation of the Coast Guard, he believes it’s time to move on.
“The clinic is small, it’s antiquated, and it’s outlived its life expectancy,” Kane said.
Instead, Kane wants to see a larger, more convenient clinic that can offer more services. He said he’s been working with Cape May County officials and local veterans’ groups on plans, and that week had received the OK from Washington to seek bids on a project in September.
“Which we think is very exciting,” Kane said. “I really think we could get something in place by late ’18, early ’19.”
The facility could be in a new building, or existing space could be renovated to meet the need, he said.
Of about 20 veterans in the conference room for the meeting, there seemed to be a consensus the new CBOC belongs in Court House, which is in the center of the county and has access to public transportation. One man brought up the Cape May County Airport in Lower Township, where a lot of space is available, but Johnnie Walker, the state adjutant for Disabled American Veterans, argued against that option, citing the lack of public transportation to that site.
Other speakers proposed placing it at or near Cape Regional Medical Center. Kane supported that idea, citing the possibility that patients who need X-rays or other treatment would not have far to go, but said the work will have to go out to bid because it is a federal project.
A model for the new clinic could be one that opened in Vineland in January, Kane told the veterans.
The facility is about 10,000 square feet, with specific facilities for women’s health, mental health and more.
Kane said they want to offer more than primary care at the CBOCs, and said the Vineland clinic also uses virtual diagnoses, in which a patient can consult with a specialist anywhere through an interactive system using television screens and cameras.
Most of those who attended the meeting were male, with some identifying themselves as veterans of Korea and Vietnam.
There were a few females, including veterans and the wife of a man who was injured in Iraq. She described some of the difficulties getting him the treatment and services he needs, and was the person who called for better services for traumatic brain injuries.
Several of the speakers brought up particular issues or times in which they sought services that were unavailable, or faced extensive travel to other facilities.
Kane asked to hold off on questions and comments along those lines until after the meeting, to instead focus on what’s needed for the planned clinic in Cape May County.
Two outreach specialists from the Department of Veteran Affairs, Jacqueline Hinker, and Patrick Carney, also attended the meeting. They said they’ve been working to reach veterans through numerous methods, including attending concerts and events, trying to get veterans in the system and to make sure they get the services to which they are entitled.
They plan to attend the Cape May County 4-H Fair (July 20-22) as well as municipal meetings, they said.
They want to get as many veterans to sign up as possible, both to make sure they’re covered, but also because some of the funding and services are based on the number of veterans in the system. Not signing up “is like leaving your buddy on the battlefield,” said Carney, an Army veteran who saw combat in Iraq.
Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson, a retired National Guard brigadier general, opened the meeting and kept notes on the whiteboard in the front of the room, which serves as a classroom for police recruits.
A previous meeting was held in May at the American Legion post in Wildwood. Kane said more are planned as the project gets closer to going out to bid.
Some at the meeting said there was not enough publicity in advance, or that they only happened to see a notice before the meeting. Organizers said they reached out to veteran service organizations and the areas American Legion and VFW posts, as well as to newspapers and radio stations. But they agreed they needed to better connect with veterans.
“I don’t want to sound like a business person, but we have not had very good market penetration in South Jersey,” said Kane, who was tapped to lead the Wilmington system this year. “Part of it is we’re not here.”
He wants to see more veterans come to the VA for their health care. He also touted a growing partnership with Rowan University, where a pre-med program works with two medical schools, he said.
“We very much believe there are missed opportunities here in Cape May County. We see this as a chance to grow,” he said. “We’re hearing from other providers that if we build a system, and we do things well, people will come.”
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.