Vets clinic site possibilities narrowed down to three

Dan Kulin

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

One of three sites will be selected within three months for a new veterans health clinic to replace the structurally unsound Addeliar D. Guy III Ambulatory Care Center in Las Vegas, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs said Thursday.

The sites under consideration are the city of Las Vegas-owned 61 acres downtown, property around the Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital at Nellis Air Force Base and privately owned land at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alta Drive, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi said.

"We want to lock down a location in the next 60 days or 90 days. Time is of the essence," Principi said during his visit to the city-owned land Thursday morning.

Principi said he wants a new Las Vegas clinic to open in three years.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman met Principi on the city's 61 acres Thursday morning to sell the secretary on the property. However, both Berkley and Goodman said they would rather see the federal government build a full-service hospital for veterans than a new clinic.

The property is the "jewel of the desert," perfectly located next to where U.S. 95 and Interstate 15 cross, the mayor said.

Goodman, who has made development of the property one of the priorities of his administration, said a veterans hospital on the property would fit nicely with his hopes to locate an academic medical center on the land.

A new clinic would use about 20 of the 61 acres of the former Union Pacific railroad yards, Berkley said.

"We will have a state-of-the-art clinic within three years, the only question is where it will be located," the congresswoman said. "What this has going for us is location, location, location."

Downtown is also preferred by most veterans, said Jon Grubbs, a Vietnam veteran and former state officer in the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"It's more convenient because you have the buses there," Grubbs said.

Grubbs, 58, of Las Vegas, said he, too, would rather have a full-service hospital than a new clinic. Now veterans have to travel to California for major surgery. Grubbs went to California just last month for rotator cuff surgery.

Speaking before about 120 veterans during a meeting at the Clark County Library on East Flamingo Road later Thursday morning, Principi and John Hempel, chief executive of Veterans Affairs Southern Nevada Healthcare System, said the O'Callaghan hospital handles some in-patient procedures, but serious procedures are handled mostly in California.

The Las Vegas area VA sends about 1,500 patients a year to Southern California, Hempel said.

But Berkley said she hopes two studies being done by the VA will show that growth has and will create the need for a full-service veterans hospital in Las Vegas.

In early October Berkley introduced a bill that authorizes construction of a new veterans hospital to replace the Guy clinic.

But Principi said he is focused on getting a new clinic for the area.

The city-owned land is "very attractive," but he also has to take a serious look at land at Nellis, he said.

Exactly where at Nellis a clinic could be built is still being discussed, Principi said, adding that the Air Force might not have the space for a veterans clinic.

A Veterans Affairs task force will recommend a site to Principi, who will decide where to build the new facility.

The factors that will influence his decision will include patient access, such as having nearby highways and mass transit, and proximity to in-patient care facilities, he said.

During the meeting at the library, Principi was asked if the agency really had to move out of the Guy clinic and if so why can't all of the services be moved to the O'Callaghan hospital.

Principi said they had to move because the repairs could not be done while the building was occupied.

The O'Callaghan hospital does not have enough room for all of the services that were provided at the Guy clinic, which serves about 15,000 veterans a year, Hempel said.

Also, he said, "we tried to find a single location, but couldn't."

So, while waiting for a new clinic to be built, veterans will have to go to one of 11 temporary locations for services. To help veterans get to the temporary locations, Veterans Affairs will provide a free shuttle bus from a central location to the clinic sites, Hempel said.

"It's going to take a lot of patience on the part of the patients," he said.

Surgical services will be moved to the O'Callaghan hospital, and the agency has finalized leases on six of the other 10 properties that will temporarily house clinic services. Leases for all the locations should be decided within two weeks, at which time veterans will be sent a letter telling them where to find services and Veterans Affairs will begin a series of town hall meetings with veterans, he said.

Most of the clinic's services will be moved to their temporary locations in January, Hempel said.

The agency will be out of the Guy clinic by the end of February, he said.

Hempel would not say Thursday where any of the 10 temporary locations are. He said he didn't want to say where one was unless he could say where they all are. Also, where specific services will be located could change, he said.

Hempel said he didn't have a cost estimate for operating in temporary locations, but rent will be at least $4.2 million a year. The agency was paying $2.1 million a year for the Guy clinic, which opened in 1997.

But, he added, the contract with the developer that built the Guy clinic says that any expenses incurred by the agency because of construction problems with the building will be reimbursed by the developer.

"I'm sure that will be sorted out in court," he said.