CLEARLAKE – Work on the long-awaited Veterans Affairs clinic in Clearlake had its official groundbreaking Monday.
Congressman Mike Thompson, members of the Board of Supervisors, city leaders and local veterans group representatives gathered for a ceremony and tour at the new clinic site, located at 15145 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.
“This is a really fantastic day – long overdue,” said a nervous but happy county Veterans Service Officer Jim Brown.
The 10,080 square foot building had, until last summer, been a site for the Lake County Mental Health Department, as Lake County News has reported. The Board of Supervisors chose to end the lease in order to consolidate services and cuts costs.
The building will undergo a significant remodel in the coming months to convert it for its new use as a clinic.
Brown – along with Thompson – is one of the people credited for working hard for a decade to get a clinic for Lake County, which has an estimated veterans population of 8,000, about 3,000 of which are enrolled in VA health care services.
The Board of Supervisors took a break from their meeting to travel to Clearlake for the groundbreaking, as did County Administrator Kelly Cox, County Counsel Anita Grant and District Attorney Jon Hopkins. Lakeport Mayor Jim Irwin and sheriff's candidate Francisco Rivero also were on hand for the event.
Also attending were Clearlake Mayor Judy Thein and fellow Clearlake City Council members Joyce Overton and Curt Giambruno; veterans leaders Dean Gotham, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 951, and Frank Parker, president of the United Veterans Council; and members of the VA medical administration that will oversee the clinic.
The clinic will be operated under the auspices of the San Francisco VA Medical Center, which operates other VA clinics around the North Coast, including those in Ukiah and Santa Rosa – where many local veterans must travel for care – and Eureka.
Ed Safdie, associate director of the San Francisco VA Medical Center, told the group, “It took us longer than we would have preferred” in selecting the site and getting to this point, adding that the hoops they have to jump through are more difficult than the tax code.
Safdie told the group that 40 percent of veterans are located in rural areas like Lake County.
“You are one of the key protections of our freedom,” he told local vets, offering them his thanks.
Thein recalled the decade of work that went into the clinic. “Today is truly a landmark day for the many veterans throughout our county and the city of Clearlake,” she said, noting the city was honored to be chosen.
Brown thanked his staff and Thompson for their work on the clinic project. He gave much credit for bringing the clinic to Lake County to Thompson – who served in the 173rd Airborne during Vietnam, where he was wounded and received the Purple Heart. Thompson would later become the first Vietnam veteran elected to the California Senate.
Thompson, in turn, said that Brown was being modest, and praised him for his hard work to make the clinic a reality.
Veterans deserve the clinic, said Thompson – there's no issue of “earning” it in the mix.
He recounted a story of a World War II combat veteran with a combat-related disability who visited a Northern California VA clinic. The vet said he rotated in medications as he could afford them. When the physician told the man that he would be able to get all the prescriptions that he needed and not have to make that choice, the veteran broke down and wept.
Thompson said that in a country like this, veterans shouldn't have to make those kinds of choices for health care.
“This is good stuff that we're doing,” he said of the clinic.
He and other local leaders posed with ceremonial shovels and shiny new sledgehammers inside the building's front door.
There was no dirt to turn; however, with the building being remodeled, there was a chance to get in on the demolition, which project manager Bert Brendlinger of Vila Construction Co. of Richmond said began on Monday.
Thompson took one of the sledgehammers and went over to a wall, eagerly knocking a few holes in the sheetrock.
The clinic will offer medical services including primary care and mental health, the VA reported. A limited amount of specialty care will be available through telehealth technology, with links to the San Francisco VA Medical Center and Santa Rosa VA Outpatient Clinic.
John Coscarat's parents purchased the building in 1988 when it was much smaller. It underwent two expansions, the most recent in 1995 taking it to its current footprint, he said.
Coscarat said the county had been in the building about seven years before it ended its lease last summer. He credited county Mental Health Director Kristy Kelly for suggesting the building to the VA, which was trying to settle on a location for the new clinic.
He said that quickly led to a 10-year lease agreement between the John R. Coscarat Revocable Trust, represented by Capital Partners Development Corp., and the VA.
Vila Construction is working with the architectural firm of Perkins, William and Cotterill of Rancho Cordova.
Brendlinger said the preparation work on the building began last August, not long after the county's lease was terminated. Vila Construction had just completed the VA clinic project in Santa Rosa – at twice the size.
“We know exactly what they want,” he said, adding that the VA has been “wonderful to work with.”
Not long after that preparation work got under way in Clearlake, people began stopping by the building to ask about the project, Brendlinger said.
He said that the building is “fairly well set up,” but that its electrical and water systems need to be upgraded and sprinklers had to be installed. A large portion of the building already has been gutted.
Work is expected to be completed this September, Brendlinger said.
Veterans can register to receive care at the new Clearlake clinic at www.va.gov or www.sanfrancisco.va.gov, by contacting the VA Medical Center Eligibility Office at 415-750-2210 or by visiting the San Francisco VA Medical Center or any of its outpatient clinics.
Volunteers also are be needed. Call the San Francisco VA Medical Center Voluntary Service Office at 415-750-2144 for more information.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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