Fayetteville VA Coastal Health Care System
VA Breaks Ground for New Goldsboro VA Clinic
(From left) Construction Managers Inc. Owner Robert Crenshaw, 4th Medical Squadron Commander Lt. Col. John Ginnity, North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs Director Tim Wipperman, Fayetteville VAMC Director Elizabeth Goolsby, VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network Deputy Director Gus Davila, and Goldsboro Mayor Al King break ground for the new Goldsboro Community based Outpatient Clinic Oct. 28. Not pictured but also helping with the ceremony was Sam Sasser, president of Construction Managers Inc., the company that will build and own the facility while leasing it to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Photo by Brad Garner
It was a short ceremony on a cool day, but it meant the beginning of a project that has been a longtime dream for many Veterans in the Goldsboro area.
VA and community leaders joined local Veterans and military members for the groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 28 that marked the beginning of construction for the new Goldsboro Community Based Outpatient Clinic. When completed in the summer of 2012, the 10,000 square foot clinic will house two Patient Aligned Care Teams, It will also provide mental health and telehealth services for enrolled Veterans.
The new clinic is the first in the Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network to be designed and built specifically to utilize the PACT system. PACTs consist of a health care provider (doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner), registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and a medical administration specialist who work together to provide the best possible health care for Veterans. The teams work closely with patients and their families to ensure trusted, personal relationships are forged resulting in coordination of all aspects of the Veterans' health care.
The clinic will be able to care for up to 2,400 Veterans when it opens, and has the capacity to care for almost 5,000 if expanded to four PACTs.
The ceremony marked the second clinic groundbreaking for the Fayetteville VAMC in just over a month. Construction began on the new Wilmington Multi Specialty Outpatient Clinic in September. Officials said both are evidence that the VA is working hard to increase Veterans access to high quality health care.
"VA's Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network is responsible for increasing access for Veterans living in North Carolina, Virginia and a portion of West Virginia," said Gus Davila, the deputy network director. "One of our primary means to accomplish this has been through opening outpatient clinics like this, making it more convenient for Veterans to use our services by providing site of care closer to where they live."
Elizabeth Goolsby, Fayetteville VAMC director, agreed saying it was something we owe to our Veterans.
"Our desire is that a Veteran will not have to travel more than 30 miles or 30 minutes to receive primary care," Goolsby explained. "Sometime Veterans, especially our older Veterans, have a hard time with transportation and we realize that some county transportation systems can't cross county lines. That's why these clinics are so important."
Area veterans were excited to know they were soon going to have a VA clinic in their community.
"Seeing the reality of it is just awesome," said Bill Graham, chairman of the Wayne County veterans Council. He added that having a clinic in the area will help to ease the burden some Veterans have when trying to make appointments at the Fayetteville VAMC.
When completed, the Goldsboro CBOC will be the Fayetteville VAMC's ninth site of care in it 21-county coverage area. Other sites include the medical center itself; CBOCs in Hamlet, Jacksonville, Wilmington and Robeson County; an outpatient clinic in Brunswick County; and the Village Green primary care annex, VA Dialysis Center, and Compensation and Pension Clinic, all in Fayetteville.
PACTs consist of a health care provider (doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner), registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and a medical administration specialist who work together to provide the best possible health care for Veterans. The teams work closely with patients and their families to ensure trusted, personal relationships are forged resulting in coordination of all aspects of the Veterans' health care.
