New Columbus VA clinic wants to connect homeless veterans with safe housing, health care
A new Veterans Affairs clinic aimed at providing medical services, supportive housing and more to homeless veterans will open soon in Columbus.
The Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System will open the Columbus Downtown VA Clinic March 1, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The clinic will provide a “comprehensive response to get homeless Veterans the assistance they need, including safe housing,” according to the release.
The clinic will be located at 2100 Comer Avenue, on the second floor of the Health and Human Service Center. This building is approximately 10,000 square feet and includes 24 exam rooms and offices, and one minor procedure room.
Home for Good and CAVHCS recently assessed the homeless population’s needs in the Columbus area during the community’s yearly point-in-time count.
“By partnering with United Way Homes for Good, the VA can continue the engagement with other agencies that provide services to our homeless veterans,” Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program Manager Jakia Sherrell-Thompson said.
The new clinic will offer five consult treatment rooms and 12 administrative areas for Home-Based Primary Care and HUD-VASH (U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development-VA) program staff.
The clinic will provide access to the following services:
Home-Based Primary Care
Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (H-PACT)
Housing & Urban Development/VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Services for Homeless Veterans
Laboratory Blood Draws/Specimen Collection
Telehealth Services
Visiting Subspecialists
The clinic will include VA staff members that specialize in providing supportive services such as medical care, case management, mental health, transitional housing, community and VA referrals, according to the release.
“It is extremely important for the VA to be a part of the yearly point-in-time count; the data that is captured allows the VA to make strategic decisions about what the needs are for the veterans in the communities we serve,” Sherrell-Thompson said.
The first of two new clinics
The clinic is one of two new VA facilities coming to the city.
The Mobley Road clinic, the Columbus Community-Based Outpatient Clinic, is still on track to be completed in 2022, the Ledger-Enquirer reported in September.
When local veterans learned about the location of the Mobley Road clinic in 2020, they went to Congressman Sanford D. Bishop with their concerns. Bishop wrote to Robert Wilkie, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, on June 22 and asked him to examine the Comer Avenue building, and to consider it for a VA clinic.
Along with being one block from Piedmont Columbus Regional, Bishop said the building is a good option because it is “located in the main health district where many veterans currently access services...is on a central bus route...and currently houses the VA Job Rehabilitation and Placement Center.”
Georgia has the fastest growing veterans population in the country, according to Wilkie, statistics that solidify the decision to add more services to the region, which encompasses central Alabama and western Georgia.
