PORT ANGELES – A “virtual VA clinic” will come to Clallam County next month to serve eligible veterans throughout the North Olympic Peninsula.
The Veterans Affairs Department has announced that it plans to open the clinic in April.
“Specific clinic locations, days and hours of operation are currently being finalized through a formal sharing agreement,” said a written statement from the VA.
The VA’s outpatient clinic in Bremerton will send Marty Melcher, a Clallam County nurse practitioner, to visit Olympic Medical Center, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Health Clinic and the Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles clinic each week.
Veterans who are enrolled for medical care with the VA and whose primary providers have been in Seattle, American Lake or Bremerton can switch to the virtual clinic.
That means vets no longer must make the day-long trip in the Disabled American Veterans van to the Puget Sound VA facilities.
Enrolled vets who live in Jefferson County also will be eligible for the new clinic in Port Angeles.
The Disabled American Veterans van from Port Townsend may bring them to Port Angeles.
“We’ll make arrangements,” said Virgil Porter, coordinator of Jefferson County’s van.
