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News
from Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin
For Immediate Release
Contact: Chip Weiskotten, 202-226-8553
HERSETH
SANDLIN ANNOUNCES NEW VA CLINICS COMING TO
WATERTOWN AND WAGNER
May 25,
2007, Washington, D.C. –
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin announced today that the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to open new community-based outreach
clinics (CBOC) in Watertown and Wagner, which will enhance access to
VA health care for veterans in South Dakota. The clinics were among
38 approved in 22 states by VA Secretary James Nicholson.
Rep. Herseth Sandlin
said, “In rural states like South Dakota, with a high percentage of
veterans and long distances between communities, outreach clinics are
very important. We made a promise to those who fought to keep America
free, and that shouldn’t change based on where those veterans live.
I am very pleased that the VA has recognized the need for additional
community based outreach clinics in South Dakota.”
As a member of the
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Rep. Herseth Sandlin has strongly
advocated for additional CBOCs. She has met with community leaders in
Watertown and Wagner to discuss the need for local VA outreach clinics,
and emphasized that need in Veterans’Affairs Committee hearings with
Secretary Nicholson and other meetings with VA officials in both Washington,
D.C. and South Dakota. She will continue to support community-based
outpatient clinics and ensure veterans receive the benefits and healthcare
services they deserve and were promised.
Recently, the House
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs’ Appropriations Subcommittee
approved $87.7 billion in total funding, $3.8 billion more than the
administration requested and $9.9 billion more than enacted in fiscal
2007 for the VA. This funding, along with the recently passed budget
resolution, which provides the largest annual increase in veterans'
funding in the 77 year history of the VA, will make room for funding
for these and future CBOCs.
Currently, community-based
outpatient clinics are located in Rapid City, Pierre, Winner, Aberdeen,
Eagle Butte, Isabel and Faith. The two new CBOCs will become operational
in about 9 months. Rep. Herseth Sandlin’s office and local VA officials
will keep communities and their veterans informed of milestones in the
creation of the new CBOCs.
Services will include
comprehensive primary care, health promotion, maintenance, routine/urgent
care procedures and education. Mental Health Services will done onsite
or through telemedicine at parent facility to provide screening and
prevention for mental disorders, and diagnostic evaluation for mental
illness and substance abuse; psychotherapy and or psychosocial counseling
for mental disorders, and referral for inpatient or residential care,
direct care, or access to consultation for special emphasis and or complex
problems. Routine specialty care consults will normally be referred
to the parent facility. Basic x-rays and invasive radiology or more
complex diagnostic imaging procedures will be referred to the parent
VAMC. Emergency care will be obtained at the nearest hospital. Laboratory
services will be provided parent facility. Parent VAMC, through the
CMOP, will provide all routine medications or by contract.
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Congresswoman
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin serves South Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives.
She is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats
committed to fiscal discipline and strong national security, and is
co-chair of the Rural Working Group, which is dedicated to raising the
profile of issues important to rural America. She also serves on three
committees vital to South Dakota’s interests: Agriculture, Veterans’
Affairs and Resources. In the 110th Congress, Herseth Sandlin was appointed
to serve on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
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