CLEARLAKE – Construction has begun on a new veterans health care clinic in Clearlake, which Congressman Mike Thompson and Veterans Affairs officials will tour next week.

The new community based outpatient clinic (CBOC) in Clearlake will be located at 15145 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake. The existing facility is undergoing a completely new design and renovation process.

The new clinic will have approximately 8,600 square feet of clinic space and will offer primary care, mental health services and limited specialty care through tele-health technology, linking the Clinic with specialists at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and Santa Rosa VA Outpatient Clinic.

Congressman Mike Thompson and VA officials will tour the new clinic space on April 6 at 11:30 a.m.

They will be joined by Clearlake Mayor Judy Thein and her colleagues Joyce Overton and Curt Giambruno; Lakeport Mayor Jim Irwin; Lake County Supervisors Anthony Farrington, Denise Rushing, Rob Brown, Jim Comstock and Jeff Smith; Lake County Veteran Administrator Kelly Cox, and Lake County Veterans Service Officer/Health Department Director Jim Brown.

Congressman Thompson has been a passionate advocate and longtime supporter of establishing a VA clinic in Lake County. “Our veterans deserve to be able to access care close to home, rather than being forced to travel to San Francisco or Ukiah to get health care. This is great for our vets and our entire community,” said Thompson.

The Clearlake VA Clinic is scheduled to be operational by the fall of 2010, with management and staffing the responsibility of the San Francisco VAMC. VA estimates about 8,000 veterans living in Lake County, with nearly 3,000 already enrolled with VA, many of which receive care at the Ukiah VA Outpatient Clinic.

Veterans who are interested in receiving care at the Clearlake Clinic may register at the San Francisco VAMC or any of its outpatient clinics. In addition veterans can register at www.va.gov or www.sanfrancisco.va.gov or contact the VAMC Eligibility Office at 415-750-2015.

This project is under the joint supervision of Capital Partners Development Co. LLC, Vila Construction Company of Petaluma, Carpenter Robbins Commercial Real Estate and the SFVAMC’s Planning and Engineering departments.

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