Plans for VA clinic in Marion move ahead

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Smyth County’s planning commissioners recommended Thursday the board of supervisors approve a District III Governmental Cooperative application for a special use permit for the operation of a Veterans Affairs clinic in its facility at 4451 Lee Highway, Marion. That address is in the Mount Carmel section between Marion and Atkins.
The supervisors’ approval of the planners’ recommendation is expected Dec. 8.
District III and the VA have negotiated a lease for space to be used as a clinic serving veterans, but because under the county zoning ordinance the building is defined as a professional office, a special use is required for a medical clinic, zoning administrator Clegg Williams said Thursday.
The supervisors and the planning commission met jointly Thursday for public hearings, one of which was on the SUP application. No one spoke on the matter, and Williams said no one contacted him about the proposed SUP.
Dr. Dan David, a VA physician and chief medical officer for the Bristol clinic associated with the James H. Quillen Medical Center, told the supervisors and planners the facility would be a “primary care clinic to the veterans population.”
He said no controlled substances will be administered from the clinic, a statement aimed at community fears the facility would be used as a methadone clinic.
David said a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a social worker will be on site.
“I don’t see why there should be one iota of opposition,” said Supervisor Marvin Perry.
“Will it be like the clinic that was at Saltville?” Supervisor Mike Roberts asked David.
“It will be identical to the clinic at Saltville with the exception that the physician on staff will be fulltime,” David said.
Congressman Rick Boucher, D-9th, announced the planned opening for the clinic in August, saying the clinic would benefit the county’s veterans directly as well as veterans coming into Smyth from the surrounding region for medical care services.
The congressman said he has for years urged the VA to open a clinic in Southwest Virginia. Too often, veterans forego seeking medical care at VA facilities when they have to travel long distances reach them, especially in winter when mountainous roads are at their worst.
The VA hospital in Johnson City, Tenn., will operate the Marion clinic, Boucher said. The VA has chosen to provide services directly at Marion, a move away from the typical contracting with local primary care clinics to provide care under VA auspices.
The Marion clinic will employ one on-staff physician providing primary care service and serving only veterans. It will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Boucher said additional clinics save the VA money by making access to care more convenient and veterans more likely to use services, affording physicians more opportunities to prevent or diagnose conditions early, before they become costly to treat.
Boucher said the percentage of veterans in the population of his district is much higher than in the typical congressional district across the country, making provision of services important here.

dkegley@wythenews.com