Veterans from all over the parish, and even outside the parish are able to get first-rate medical care now that the $2 million Slidell VA Outpatient Clinic was officially opened Friday.

The clinic which has been operating at 60491 Doss Drive in Slidell since May offers military veterans a new place to get medical care, and that is a blessing, because since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the VA Hospital in New Orleans, veterans have had to travel far and wide to get medical care.

Julie Catellier, director for Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System said the clinic is a new approach for the VA brought about by Katrina.

World War II Army veteran Marion Hooper, second from left, gets ready to cut the ribbon on the brand new Slidell VA Outpatient Clinic on Doss Drive Friday. Standing next to Hooper from left is Julie Catellier director of the Southeast Louisiana Veteran Health Care Systems, state Sen. A.G. Crowe, Dr. Janet Campbell clinic site manager, Parish Councilman Steve Stefancik and George Gray, Director VISN 16 U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

“We see it as good coming out of the bad,” Catellier said.

After the storm, veterans from the Northshore had to go to a temporary clinic set up at Northshore Regional Medical Center on Gause Boulevard.

While the VA was working on plans to build a new $1 billion hospital in New Orleans, they decided that setting up small community veterans clinics was the way to go.

“We wanted to move medical care into the community,” Catellier said. “And the clinics will stay here even after the New Orleans hospital is completed.”’

The Slidell clinic joins a network of clinics that are operating in St. John the Baptist Parish, Hammond, Franklinton and Baton Rouge. Future clinics are planned for Bogalusa and Houma.

She said veterans who live within a 30-mile radius can use the clinic, which has a staff of two primary care physicians and seven nurses for physical ailments. The clinic also provides mental health treatment with one psychiatrist, a psychologist and a social worker on staff.

Slidell Chief of Staff Bob Dunbar, a U.S. Air Force veteran said that he comes to the clinic all the time now.

“They just give the best of care,” Dunbar said. “We veterans are very fortunate.”

Catellier said the clinic also offers a service that is unique to the area. The VA is testing out a Home and Health Community care program, and the Slidell clinic is the testing ground. The program sends doctors, nurses, dieticians and other support staff to the homes of veterans who cannot get to the clinic. They will travel to homes in a 65-mile radius of the clinic.

“The patients just love home care. This is the care of the future,” she said.

One Army veteran, Bobby Dyson said he is so glad to have the clinic in Slidell. He lives in Bogalusa, and he had to travel to either New Orleans or Mississippi to get medical care.

“I love this,” Dyson said. “It’s less to travel and the care is excellent.”

Dunbar said it is about time that local veterans got the proper care they deserve.

“To all you wonderful people at the VA, you are not just caring for a person, you are caring for all U.S. heroes,” Dunbar said.�