VA clinic site announcement expected this winter

Last edited 4:08 p.m., Nov. 24, 2015

Speaking to reporters this morning at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Ark., interim medical center director Dr. Mark Worley said the organization expects to announce a site for a Springfield Veterans Affairs clinic this winter.

The announcement puts a timetable on the Queen City clinic that has been discussed since at least 2013. The decision would be made by the VA’s Real Property Services, according to notes provided by VHSO.

In March, Springfield City Council approved a zoning change on 20 acres south of Kansas Expressway and Republic Road, a move that put the area in the running for an over 90,000-square-foot VA clinic. The developers of the 96-acre Springfield Plaza Real Estate LLC at West Bypass and Sunshine Street also have said their development is a candidate for the clinic.

VHSO spokeswoman Sarah McBride said via email the Springfield clinic would serve over 8,000 veterans within a 30-minute drive. She said services at the clinic would include primary care, mental health, dental, sleep lab, radiology and endoscopy.

The move would transition the Gene Taylor Outpatient Clinic in Mount Vernon to Springfield. After last year’s announcement that Mount Vernon’s largest employer - Missouri Rehabilitation Center, which houses a VA clinic - would close, its fate was up in the air.

“The Springfield clinic is anticipated to absorb 60 percent of the southwest Missouri workload,” McBride said, noting VHSO is working with the Monett employees to transition them to Springfield or Joplin, where a clinic also is planned.