By Madeleine Leroux
Managing Editor
Veterans in the El Dorado area will have a new clinic location come October.
Construction is nearly finished on a new 10,000-square-foot facility at 1702 N. West Ave., which will replace the existing clinic at 514 E. 5th St. Chris Durney, public affairs officer for the Central Arkansas Veterans Health System, said the new community based outpatient clinic will continue to serve the more than 1,800 veterans in the area enrolled with Veterans Affairs.
“The current El Dorado (clinic) is a (Central Arkansas Veterans Health System)-staffed clinic, which allows us to directly control our operational efficiency, and have positive influence over the quality of patient care, and employee work environment, compensation and engagement,” Durney said in an email. “This will transfer to the new facility with no interruption in service to our veterans.”
Durney said the new facility is leased by the health system and the owner is handling all construction and related costs. Durney was unable to provide the name of the owner by press time Friday, but according to the Union County Assessor’s Office, the property is owned by SI Property Investments LLC. According to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, the registered agent of the LLC is Tammy Moore and the address is out of Gassville, Arkansas.
The new clinic will be ready for staff on Sept. 30, Durney said, which is when phone calls will begin to be accepted at that location. He said patients will be able to be seen at the new facility starting Oct. 2.
“The … clinic’s layout will support primary care, mental health, telehealth and nutrition services,” Durney said.
Durney said a grand opening of the new clinic likely would happen in October or November, after “everything is smoothed out at the new” clinic.
“There will not be any interruption in service to our veteran patients,” Durney said. “We will see patients through the last day of use of the current facility.”