Site near San Joaquin General Hospital may provide outpatient care for Lodi-area veterans

Lodi-area veterans only have to drive as far as French Camp for nursing home services if the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs chooses land adjacent to San Joaquin General Hospital for an outpatient and nursing home.

Currently, veterans have to drive to the Veterans Administration clinic in Livermore or to the VA hospital in Rancho Cordova for medical care, according to Kerri Childress, communications officer and congressional liaison for the Veterans Administration Health Care System in Palo Alto.

"We're extremely excited about this," Childress said. "We'll be able to provide health care services to veterans who have never been able to get it there before."

"I think this is wonderful. We have so many veterans in the Central Valley," said Connie Norton, president of the Lodi American Legion Auxiliary. "The majority of the time, when they want to go to Livermore, they send them all the way to Palo Alto (almost 100 miles from Lodi) for major stuff."

The bad news for local veterans is that the nursing home — most likely to be located in French Camp or Modesto — won't be built until 2015 at the earliest, Childress said.

The idea is to co-locate a 120-bed nursing home with a new multi-specialty outpatient clinic to include radiology, dentistry, mental health and primary care, Childress said.

"It's going to be a very, very large outpatient clinic," she added.

San Joaquin County wants to work with the VA Hospital, said Andy Stone, spokesman for Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, who has lobbied heavily for the French Camp location.

"They can co-locate with County General (Hospital) so they can share resources back and forth," Stone said.

McNerney gets endorsements from veterans

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, has announced the endorsement of Dave Norris of Tracy, past state commander of the California Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Norris is a Vietnam veteran and a member of VFW Post 52 in Stockton.

Also endorsing McNerney are Commander Tino Adame and Service Officer Cary Martin of the Karl Ross American Legion Post 16 in Stockton; Tom Liggett, former commander of the McFall Grisham American Legion Post 249 in Manteca; Lucie Marx Titus, president of the MG William F. Dean Chapter of the Association of the Army; and veterans Jerry Wiggen of Manteca and Eugene Cota, Bill Evans and David Hamm of Pleasanton.

Source: Jerry McNerney

San Joaquin County has offered to lease land adjacent to San Joaquin General Hospital for $1 per year, Stone said.

Childress said that other Valley locations, including Tracy, are being considered, but French Camp and Modesto are the ones heavily lobbying for the nursing home and outpatient center.

"McNerney feels extremely passionate about this," Childress said. "I know he's thrilled that there's going to be a clinic in the Valley."

Existing veterans' clinics in Stockton and Modesto will be expanded in the next couple of years, Childress said.

"This is separate from the new clinics and nursing home and more of a stop-gap to help veterans while the new clinics get through all the funding and construction," she added.

The Palo Alto VA center will be among the agencies that will determine whether French Camp, Modesto or another location gets the nursing home and expanded outpatient clinic.

"VA Palo Alto isn't opposed to anywhere," she added.

The VA has hired a consultant to evaluate each possible location. A decision may be made as early as next year based on such factors as how close it is to major roads, how cheap the land is, proximity of a major hospital for emergency care and how close a majority of veterans are, Childress said.

McNerney, who sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, showed committee chairman Bob Filner, D-San Diego, the French Camp site on Monday.

"It would be nice if we could get one down there (in French Camp) because the majority of the veterans are in the Valley here," said Ken Kramlich, service officer and finance officer for the Lodi American Legion post.

"We've been campaigning, talking to the congressman every time we get a chance," Kramlich said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

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