New vets' clinic opens in Santa Rosa

A large American flag flying at half staff tempered Friday's official opening of an expanded clinic for military veterans in Santa Rosa while also underscoring the need for services the clinic will provide.

They include the mental health counseling that Santa Rosa veteran Bruce Thomson relies on to cope with the psychic wounds he said he suffered as a tank driver in Vietnam.

“It's devastating,” Thomson said of Thursday's massacre at a Texas Army base. “Fort Hood was a good memory for me before I went to war. It was safe, warm and comfortable, and there was good camaraderie.”

Such warmth was on display at Friday's unveiling of the 21,000-foot clinic near the Sonoma County airport. The new facility is double the size of the one it replaced on Chanate Road and includes a range of new or expanded services.

Having access to what is officially known as the Santa Rosa Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic means many North Bay veterans no longer will have to travel to San Francisco for medical problems ranging from dental care to foot problems.

“It's nice to have a new facility that's so close to me,” said Jim Bajgrowicz, an Army veteran and retired attorney who lives a little more than a mile away from the new clinic, which is at the corner of Airport and Brickway boulevards. “The people here are really excellent at their jobs.”

More than 5,000 veterans were treated yearly at the Chanate Road clinic, which opened in 1996. That number is likely to increase with the larger facility.

There are an estimated 34,000 veterans in Sonoma County. The clinic also draws men and women from Mendocino, Lake, Napa and Marin counties.

Audrey Stephens, the clinic's administrator, said she is pleased to be able to offer more services to more veterans, saying “they deserve it.”

Optometry will be among the clinic's new services, along with radiology, podiatry, physical therapy and dental care, the latter available only to veterans with special eligibility.

Services continued from the Chanate clinic include primary care, audiology, mental health, pharmacy, laboratory and dermatology.

As with any new facility, there are still some wrinkles to iron out.

Some veterans complained Friday about the time it takes to get to the new clinic from Santa Rosa using public transit.

Volunteers from Sonoma County Vet Connect who accompanied a wheelchair-bound veteran to the clinic from the downtown bus station in Santa Rosa found that it took him nearly the entire day to make the round-trip journey, according to group member Marie Gray.

“There's an emergency need for transportation accommodations. The facility is beautiful, but if people can't get here it won't help those who need the services,” Gray said.

Stephens said after hearing similar concerns from a “small group” of clinic users she's working with county transit planners on getting more public transportation options, such as van service.

But overall, most seemed happy with the new digs.

“I have high expectations,” Thomson said. “It's looks like they've really gone out of their way here.”