Libby to get new Veterans Outreach Clinic

Libby Montana News Archive

LibbyMt.com > News > July 2009 > Libby to get new Veterans Outreach Clinic

Libby to get new Veterans Outreach Clinic
by Duane Williams, KLCB 1230 AM Libby News Radio
July 16, 2009
Senator Jon Tester announced today The U.S. Veterans Administration has approved a new veterans outreach clinic for Libby in an effort to improve health care for the nearly 3,800 veterans who live in Lincoln County. Lincoln County is the only Montana county served by the V.A.’s regional hospital in Spokane, Washington, rather than Helena.

Veterans in Libby currently must drive more than 100 miles to Coeur d’Alene or Spokane for V.A. health care. This new facility will allow them to get some of their routine health care much closer to home.

The new community-based outreach clinic is expected to open later this year as a part-time facility. It will be managed by the Spokane Veterans Administration Medical Center.

It is the fourth outreach clinic opened in Montana since Tester joined the Veterans’ Affairs Committee in 2007. Other clinics have been added in Lewistown, Cut Bank, and Havre.

Tester is the author of the Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, which would improve care for the more than 100,000 veterans living in Montana. Tester’s bill would improve mental health services for veterans, provide grants for innovative programs that improve health care for rural veterans, and lock in the current travel reimbursement for disabled veterans, secured by Tester. The bill has cleared the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate.
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Story by Duane Williams, KLCB 1230 AM Libby News Radio, www.todaysbestcountryonline.com.

LibbyMt.com > News > July 2009 > Libby to get new Veterans Outreach Clinic

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