Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village), Ranking Member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health, is pleased to announce that the President’s FY2016 budget request includes a new VA community clinic for Ventura County.
“This new facility is critically important for Ventura County’s veterans to be able to receive as much care as possible, as close to home as possible,” said Brownley. “Because many of the over 50,000 veterans in Ventura County cannot make the long commute to the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, I have been advocating for a larger facility closer to them. I am pleased that the FY2016 budget request includes this new community clinic, and I will continue to make it a top priority until the doors are open.”
“I think the impact of this clinic will be life-changing for the veterans in Ventura County,” said Kim Evans, founder and director of the Ventura County Military Collaborative. “I can’t think of a better way for the Congresswoman to support the local community. The diversity of new services available at the community clinic will profoundly elevate the level of care for our veterans in need.”
“I am pleased the VA is taking veterans’ services seriously and building the infrastructure necessary to meet the growing needs of Ventura County veterans,” said Mike McManus, USAF (ret.), Veteran Service Officer for the Ventura County Human Services Agency. “I thank Congresswoman Brownley for her hard work to improve health services for veterans in our community.”
The project proposes to lease a new, approximately 47,200 net usable square feet (NUSF) outpatient clinic with 350 parking spaces to replace the existing VA contract clinic in Oxnard. The new facility would increase access to specialty services provided at the contract clinic and would reduce space, utilization, and veteran access gaps identified in the Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) process. This project would allow VA to expand its current primary care and mental health services, as well as provide much-needed new services such as optometry, audiology, PM&RS, and dermatology in a right-sized, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient health care facility.
With this lease, VA would be able to offer new services and expand existing services to keep pace with the needs of the veteran enrollee population of the area. This project would allow for easier access to care for veterans living in Oxnard who currently must commute to the Sepulveda Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) or West Los Angeles VAMC for treatment.
Issues: 114th Congress, Local Issues, Veterans' Affairs