By Monique Balas
News-Chronicle
Northeast Wisconsin veterans got confirmation Monday that they finally will get what they feel they deserve: A local health-care center that can meet their needs.
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, announced at a news conference Monday the new clinic will operate in the Mattson Building - formerly the Allergy Clinic of Green Bay - at 141 Siegler St. The community-based outpatient clinic will take over the space previously occupied by retiring doctor James Mattson and will be leased from him by the Veterans Administration.
"Teddy Roosevelt said a man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough for a square deal afterward," Green said. "This is one small step closer to realizing that promise."
In 2001, Green began to fight for a Green Bay clinic by writing a letter to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to request a new veterans health facility. Area veterans weighed in by circulating petitions on the need for the clinic.
Many vets must travel to clinics as far away as Appleton, Milwaukee or Iron Mountain, Mich., for free health care. Nearly 1,000 veterans are on waiting lists for those hospitals, a number Green deemed "outrageous."
"We're going to mow into that backlog like nothing you've seen before," said Mattson.
He signed a lease on Monday with VA contract specialist Thomas Scheuerell authorizing use of the building beginning Nov. 1 for a cost of $85,000.
"It's about time we had one here in Green Bay," said Jack Baker, transportation coordinator for the Disabled American Veterans Russell Leight Chapter Three Green Bay. "You also have to consider, it will be drawing veterans from Door, Oconto and Shawano counties."
Baker's group drives area veterans to the clinics in Appleton and Milwaukee. The new clinic won't affect his workload too much, because it will mainly serve those on the waiting list, not those established in other clinics, he said.
The new outpatient clinic will be equipped with an internist, a primary-care physician, a licensed practical nurse, a nurse practitioner, a patient services assistant and a part-time social worker. The combined staff can treat up to 1,200 patients with primary care and mental health triage.
Green Bay's clinic will focus on medical history, physical exams, health assessment, routine laboratory work and outpatient care.
The West Side location is a good spot for three reasons, Green said: It's close to State 29 and U.S. 41, helpful because many veterans live in rural areas; it's on Green Bay's bus routes, for those veterans who are unable to drive; and without requiring much renovation, it can open as early as Dec. 1.
"It's just a positive step toward meeting the ongoing demand of health for veterans, especially aging veterans," said Jerry Polus, Brown County veterans service officer.
Aside from access to low-cost prescription medications, Veterans Affairs hospitals offer some advantages over regular hospitals, Polus said.
For example, Veterans Affairs programs can offer treatment programs and doctors who are familiar with service-connected disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorders that commonly afflict veterans, he said. Polus said his office gets about 100 first-time applications a month from county veterans seeking care through Veterans Affairs each month, with 70 percent of those being age 65 and older.
"So the need is there, especially among aging vets, for health care," he said. "With the aging population, that demand will continue to go on the rise."
Harold Grimes of the Uniformed Services Disabled Retirees reminded the crowd that the clinic will serve future veterans as well as current ones, including those who are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia.
"These people have given you the right to be here today," Grimes said.
Door
County news 
