New Veterans Clinic In Opens In Tulsa

Tulsa's newest veterans outpatient clinic is now open for business -- a project two years in the making. For Tulsa veterans like Lloyd Caldwell, the new clinic means better care a lot closer to home.

"They can take care of us a little bit better. They can have more doctors, take your X-rays and do your stuff here instead of having to go to Muskogee," Caldwell explained, "I feel like they will get better treatment here and maybe get it faster and not have to wait so long."

The nearly 200,000 square foot clinic sits on 16 acres and has every outpatient service under one roof. Jonathan Plasencia oversees operations for the VA of Eastern Oklahoma and gave News on 6 a look inside.

"We are very excited to finally be opening. I think this facility shows Tulsa and the veterans how much we value them, and how much we want to delivery high quality care to them," Plasencia explained.

Plasencia says the clinic has endoscopy services, more specialty care, an expanded radiology area and even cancer treatment and a women's health area.

"Almost 80 percent of our veterans in the 25 counties of eastern Oklahoma live in Tulsa County or north of Tulsa county --- so it was very important we expanded our footprint here and bring a large healthcare center like this to provide services we currently didn't offer," Plasencia added.

There's also a retail and food shop as well as more parking and a golf cart valet. The total project cost $97 million with a 20-year lease term, all funded by the federal government. The clinic will open more and more services in phase and will completely open by September.