JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The Department of Veteran Affairs is looking to open dozens of new facilities across the country, including here in Northeast Florida.
It’s part of sweeping recommendations that would overhaul a system that represents 9 million veterans nationwide.
Northeast Florida is growing and the VA says it needs to grow with it.
The VA serves more than 175,000 veterans in North Florida and South Georgia. The department expects that number to grow by more than 7% with Duval and Clay counties seeing the largest increase.
During that time, The VA expected demand for inpatient medical and surgical services to increase by more than 11.3%, inpatient health services by 9.5% and long-term care by a whopping 37.1%.
Given that expected growth and demand, the VA says there’s a need to invest in new outpatient sites and a new VA Medical Center in Jacksonville.
It also recommends a new outpatient clinic at the Lake City VA campus and as many as six outpatient clinics across the region. It would also close the Southpoint VA clinic and its services would move to one of the new facilities.
A new VA outpatient clinic is already in the works for North Jacksonville.
The city approved permits in November for a facility on Max Leggett Parkway with construction expected to wrap up in summer 2023.
The VA also wants to modernize Lake city’s aging rehabilitation treatment program and community living center and move some services from the Gainesville VA clinic to new standalone sites.
Most of these are still just recommendations.
Over the next year, a presidential commission will hold a number of public hearings before sending its own recommendations to the White House.