After delays, new Columbus VA clinic is expected to open next month
After months of delays, the new Columbus Veterans Affairs clinic is expected to open next month, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop told the Ledger-Enquirer Wednesday.
Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough is expected to attend the opening of the community-based outpatient clinic at 6910 River Road. A local veterans town hall also will be hosted in connection with the opening, Bishop said during a news conference following U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s visit to Columbus.
“Stay tuned,” Bishop said. “It will be coming next month.”
The River Road site was selected in early 2020. In the months following the announcement, veterans expressed concerns about the location. They were worried that poor and marginalized veterans would have difficulty accessing services. Among them was former mayor Col. Robert “Bob” S. Poydasheff. Poydasheff died in September 2020 at the age of 90. The new clinic was named in his honor in 2021.
“But what about the homeless veterans, what about the Black veterans, what about the Hispanic and Latino, the Asian, Pacific islanders who don’t live up in north Columbus?” he said during a news conference in August 2020.
During a Columbus Council meeting in November 2021, METRA Director Rosa Evans said it would provide shuttle services from its transfer station at Linwood Boulevard to the River Road clinic. Veterans are asked to call at least one day in advance. The expected fare is $2.50 one way.
The roughly 55,000-square-foot facility will provide services to veterans in the Columbus and Chattahoochee Valley regions. It will work with existing facilities located at Fort Benning and in midtown Columbus near the Piedmont Columbus Regional hospital campus.
A Department of Veteran Affairs spokesperson did not respond to the Ledger-Enquirer before publication. This story will be updated once a response is received.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 1:40 PM.