New Veterans clinic opens in Loveland
The more than 76,000-square-foot facility at 4575 Byrd Drive in north Loveland celebrated its grand opening May 27, with speeches, a ribbon cutting and tours of the state-of-the-art clinic. Local veterans, officials, including Loveland’s mayor, VA system members, and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet spoke to the packed room. Epic Consulting Firm has leased the building to the VA.
The new clinic has been described as a one-stop shop offering mental health services, outpatient care, pharmacy, physical therapy, dentistry and more. Sunaina Kumar-Giebel, deputy network director and chief operating officer for the VA Integrated Service Network 19, said “It will provide service to 19,000 veterans, will provide those who come in with the best care possible.” Paul Roberts, the clinic’s director, thanked the veterans for working with them to create the best possible services.
The clinic more than doubles the space of the current Loveland and Fort Collins facilities. It has 550 parking spots. Construction began in May 2020. The cost for the initial design and construction was estimated between $15.8 and $17 million. It will be able to serve more than 200 veterans a day. The existing Loveland and Fort Collins clinics served approximately 6,000 veterans from Larimer County and 4,500 from Weld County every year, with 180,000 encounters with those veterans for the different services they offer. It expects to serve 19,000 veterans in Larimer and Weld counties. The veterans will be served by 60 staff members added to the 140 at the two facilities — there are 80 in Loveland and 60 in Fort Collins.
Veterans will no longer have to travel to Cheyenne to get services, as radiology and dental services will be offered. The services will include expanded primary care services, expanded home tele-health, and continuation of the patient aligned care team that includes mental health, pharmacology and chaplain services. There also are laboratory, physical therapy, optometry and audiology services.
