By the numbers: The Springfield CBOC
11,653: Number of area veterans enrolled to receive VA health care at the clinic.
3,461: Number of area veterans who visited the clinic in fiscal year 2012.
2,849: Number of area veterans who have visited so far in fiscal year 2013.
3.1: Percent of growth in new patients between fiscal years 2011 and 2012.
5: Number of VA hospitals in Ohio (Dayton, Columbus, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Cleveland).
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From battlefield tales to stories of battling for benefits, count on Springfield News-Sun reporter Andrew McGinn to bring you stories about local veterans.
When the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic on Burnett Road expanded by almost 2,000 square feet in 2010, it wasn’t for naught — of the four clinics operated by the Dayton VA Medical Center, Springfield’s is the busiest, clinic administrators say.
“It’s always busy,” nurse manager Heather Vince said as she peered into the waiting room of the local clinic on a recent afternoon.
More than 11,600 area veterans — spanning ages 19 to 99 and encompassing every conflict since World War II — are enrolled to receive their primary care at the VA’s Springfield Community Based Outpatient Clinic, which, like all things military-related, is referred to by the acronym CBOC.
In fiscal year 2012, the clinic was visited 25,911 times by 3,461 patients, according to VA statistics.
The Dayton VA on April 11 announced plans to expand its CBOC in Richmond, Ind., which will double the clinic’s size to 12,000 square feet. That’s in line with the Springfield clinic, which expanded three years ago to 11,969 square feet.
But, despite being busier than the other clinics, the Springfield clinic still isn’t busy enough, administrators say. The clinic’s location in an eastside shopping center that has been without an anchor store for years is partly to blame, they say.
The Dayton VA, which also has outpatient clinics in Middletown and Lima, primarily serves veterans from Clark and Greene counties at its Springfield clinic, although patients also come from Champaign County. However, it’s serving only 37.9 percent of an area veteran population that currently stands at 30,727, according to Dayton VA stats.
“We want to get more veterans in,” Vince said. “As many people we can get.”
The clinic has made attempts to enroll more local veterans in the VA health care system — even those with private insurance — by providing information at the public library or at area Kroger stores, Vince said.
The clinic’s rented space in the Burnett Plaza, between an Ace hardware store and a Family Dollar, is actually the Springfield CBOC’s third location since opening in 1997. It relocated to the strip mall in 2000.
“I still feel like people don’t know we’re here,” said Vince, a 37-year-old Springfield native who, as an Air Force veteran herself, “had no idea this place even existed” until she went to work there as a staff nurse in 2005.
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” she added.
On Sachi Sunamoto’s first visit, the clinic’s new office manager admittedly drove right by.
“We’re not very visible here,” confessed Sunamoto, 26, a native of Cincinnati and a member of the Air Force Reserve who started her new job in February. “We’re just tucked away in a strip mall that’s not that lively.”
However, those local veterans who receive their care at the clinic have nothing but good things to say about it, citing a level of intimacy found in a local doctor’s office compared with a hospital.
“I like being able to give back to those veterans who gave so much to this country,” Vince said. “They deserve the best care.”
There are complaints about the slowness of VA’s disability claims system, but, as Sunamoto noted, they don’t process claims at the clinic.
“The staff here is excellent,” said Myra Gaskins, 53, a 15-year Army veteran from Springfield whose service included the Persian Gulf War. “How they remember everybody’s name, I have no idea.”
Monte Conley, 64, a Springfield resident who fought in Vietnam as a Marine, likes the personal touch offered by a clinic that only has 28 full- and part-time employees, including three full-time doctors.
“I know several of the nurses, and I’m called by name when I walk in here,” Conley said.
Robert Domer, 60, a Springfield resident who served off the coast of Vietnam aboard the USS Ticonderoga, echoed that as well.
“We know them and they know us,” Domer said.
Each of them credit the clinic with providing a vital service. Without the VA, they say, they wouldn’t have access to medical care. And, without the VA clinic in Springfield, they would have to drive to Dayton.
“It’s great,” Domer said. “Saves a lot of time, money.”
Domer also credits a weight-loss program at the Springfield clinic with helping him shed a great deal of weight from a high of 460 pounds.
In addition to primary care, the Springfield CBOC now offers optometry, podiatry, physical therapy, a pharmacy and lab work. Five people make home visits. Three mental health providers help treat substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The clinic is next looking to expand hours, Vince said, to possibly include evenings and weekends.
“It’s almost like a mini-hospital without the inpatient side,” she said.
But, for some local veterans, the clinic represents much more than just a place to get check-ups.
For starters, it’s the place where Honor Flight Network got its start.
In 2004, Honor Flight founder Earl Morse, an Enon resident, was working as a physician assistant at the Springfield clinic when he began taking his World War II veteran patients in his private plane to see their national memorial in Washington, D.C.
With hubs across the country, but still based in Springfield, Honor Flight is now known and revered nationally, and has transported about 100,000 veterans to Washington, D.C., to see their memorials.
“There is much more going on there than medical treatment,” said Randy Ark, of Springfield, a clinic patient who served in Vietnam as an Army combat medic. “The feeling there when you sit in the waiting room is one of peace and brotherhood, and there are young and old alike.
“It is like a club where your membership is guaranteed if you are a veteran.”
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