JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs plans to replace two Jacksonville health care sites with a new 164,000-square-foot clinic, an agency spokeswoman said Friday.
President Donald Trump mentioned the new clinic in passing during a campaign speech Thursday night at Cecil Airport on the city’s Westside, saying the new facility would be in North Jacksonville.
A specific location hasn’t been announced, but VA spokeswoman Cindy Snook said the clinic will take the place of the VA’s Southpoint center at 6900 Southpoint Drive North and its University center at Memorial Health Plaza, 3900 University Blvd. South.
The new facility will let VA upgrade its primary care and mental health treatment and expand radiology, optometry and audiology that are offered onsite in Jacksonville, Snook said.
She said the new clinic will have rooms capable of handling multiple kinds of specialty care, a feature that’s important for providing in-demand types of care including women’s health services and telehealth. She said the project will also have some space for residential care.
It’s unclear when the new facility will open, and Snook said additional information wasn’t available.
The facility, which Trump described as being provided through a $46 million lease, will apparently be larger than VA’s 136,000-square-foot outpatient clinic on North Jefferson Street, which will continue to operate.
Snook said the new facility will include parking for 1,150 vehicles.
Having more complete medical services for Jacksonville veterans has been a longtime aim for the area’s politicians. U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., filed legislation last year seeking — without success, so far — to authorize a $300 million VA hospital in the city.
“He wanted a facility that offers top-notch services and resources that our veterans deserve,” said Amber Milenkevich, a legislative assistant for Lawson, who she said has sought a centrally-located facility for two and a half years.
The House of Representatives approved a bill in 2017 that authorized replacing the two facilities targeted for retirement.
Milenkevich, who said veterans’ care is fundamentally a bi-partisan subject, said there’s hope that the clinic Trump announced will deliver care that’s more convenient and accessible than the two sites that will be phased out.
