CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The community is celebrating the grand opening of the Corpus Christi West Point VA Clinic.
The brand-new 68,000 sq. ft. facility will serve close to 15,000 local veterans and house 14 primary care teams, along with a homeless program and dozens of other healthcare services.
VA officials said the facility and it's staff are more than ready to serve the community.
"So we're very proud. Again, we're a military city. We embrace, we must take care of our veterans. This facility is going to serve over 15 thousand veterans here in the area, so it's a very special day and it's a long time coming," said Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo.
Veterans and their families joined in on the celebration as they were welcomed to the new complex. Director of Lease Executions Rudy Clemons said that the growing veteran population called for a new and improved clinic.
"We've outgrown the smaller unit, the facility and this is going to be more state-of-the-art, serve population. In the longrun, I think if we get ahead of the curve we can serve the veterans and give htem more state of the art medical care to prevent a lot of the things that we have seen in the past," he said.
VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System Chief of Staff Jennifer Wood said that veterans face many challenges when leaving the service, and the VA is always there to serve them.
"Whether that's coming home from deployment and adjusting back to civilian life or retiring from a long career and now having time to revisit those experiences that they might have had during their military service," she said.
While the VA can help veterans with their physical health, Wood said that caring for their mental health and helping veterans healthily on their past experiences is what can often make the biggest difference.
"Whether they might be experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance abuse, we're here to provide robust mental health programming and support them as they continue to seek a high quality of life," she said.
More from 3News on KIIITV.com:
- Jose 'JJ' Falcon dies of bone cancer
- Funeral services announced for last Coastal Bend Pearl Harbor survivor Capt. Robert 'Bob' Batterson
- Body of missing pastor Phillip Loveday found in truck
- Corpus Christi cyclists say they were assaulted by aggressive drivers during group ride
- Mathis resident claims $1 million Powerball prize
- Here's what that strange 'cloud' was in the night sky in South Texas
- Here's when you can watch the 2023 solar eclipse over Corpus Christi
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for your daily news and exclusive extended interviews.
Do you have a news tip? Tell 3!
Email tell3@kiiitv.com so we can get in touch with you about your story should we have questions or need more information. We realize some stories are sensitive in nature. Let us know if you'd like to remain anonymous.