Fargo VA has 13% patient increase in a year

Fargo VA serves more vets in outreach clinics

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 18, 2008 16:58:18 EST

FARGO, N.D. — The Veterans Affairs Medical Center here is serving an additional 2,400 veterans with new outreach clinics, the agency says.

VA said it has had a 13 percent increase in patient visits over the past year as soldiers return from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Fargo VA is to be an outpatient center to treat brain trauma victims. It’s opened new clinics in Devils Lake and Bemidji, Minn.

“We’re really working with our community partnerships,” said Robert McDivitt, the center’s director.

Paula Conard, who manages the Veterans Service Center, which helps vets obtain benefits, said improvements have been made in the past two years to better the speed of processing claims. Currently, 1,400 claims are pending, with the average decision time running about 90 days, she said.

“We’ve made great strides in processing claims,” she said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_fargova_080118/

One more lesson on the need for clinics and veteran's centers to open up and open fast across the country.