First veterans salute new medical center
Like most of the dozens of veterans who showed up early for Tuesday’s opening of the new Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Las Vegas, 75-year-old Tom Stacey was pleased with the service he received.
From the bus that carried his motorized scooter chair to the shady east entrance for a 9 a.m. arrival, to his departure one hour and 45 minutes later for a ride back on the Downtown and Veterans Medical Center Express bus, he said he felt more confident he will be able to make his geriatrics appointments and not feel like an old vet being squeezed in for health care at the Nellis Air Force Base’s O’Callaghan Federal Medical Center.
"This is going to be a lot more convenient," Stacey, a Korean War-era Marine said comparing his experience Tuesday with the setbacks of having to use the Nellis hospital as a substitute for his health care needs while he waited six years for the $1 billion VA Medical Center to be built.
"Unlike O’Callaghan, it’s for veterans, not just Air Force," he said.
Stacey said the veterans express bus arrived at the VA Medical Center on the northern outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley 35 minutes after it had left the downtown Bonneville Transit Center with one stop at a park-and-ride location near the Cannery. Fares for the new express bus route, dubbed DVX, are $2 each way. But Southern Nevada can try out the bus for free from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1 with a valid local identification.
The VA Medical Center, at 6900 N. Pecos Road, opened for limited services Tuesday on the first floor of the six-floor structure.
Those services included prosthetics, rehabilitation medicine, infectious diseases, oncology, pulmonary care, eye care, mental health and the pharmacy. The cafe, duty-free patriot store and patient advocate facility were also open.
The medical center is expected to be fully operational, including surgery and emergency services, by January.
VA spokesman David Martinez said the first "five or six" arrived before the 7:30 a.m. scheduled opening, and by the end of the day, 513 patients had visited the new medical center.
Martinez said the first patient, a Navy, Vietnam-era veteran named "Mario," whose last name he wouldn’t release for privacy reasons, arrived at 6:25 a.m., in plenty of time for his 9 a.m. appointment.
While Disabled American Veterans’ vans routinely dropped off passengers at the west entrance, one vet with a prosthetic leg walked toward the glass-enclosed entrance, saying he had driven in from Utah "because it was too far for my bicycle."
Lloyd Weathersby, a 69-year-old disabled Vietnam War Navy veteran, said a nurse made him feel welcome after he arrived following a 10-minute drive from his North Las Vegas home.
"I walked in and said, ‘Where’s physical therapy?’ She said, ‘Come on. I’ll take you there.’"
Marine Rider Seth Morgan said it took him about 40 minutes to make the trip on his motorcycle from south Las Vegas for his appointment.
"It went good," he said. "I had an issue on medication, and they took care of the problem."
Martin A. Morales, 70, said he was disappointed when he found out Tuesday after waiting for the opening that the medical center couldn’t handle a biopsy for a cyst on his throat that he has been wrestling with for a couple years.
"They wanted to send me to San Diego for a biopsy two years ago, but I didn’t want to fly. I’m terrified of flying," Morales said.
"They told me they don’t do that here," he said with a barely audible raspy voice.
When asked what he was going to do, he said, "I don’t know."
Martinez, the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare spokesman, said the VA doesn’t yet have an ear, nose, throat – ENT – surgeon in the Las Vegas area.
"We are hiring one, but for complex ENT care we will still utilize San Diego. We currently have (an) ENT surgeon who flies in weekly but does the surgeries in San Diego," Martinez wrote in an email Tuesday.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
