NORTH CHARLESTON – In 2019, the Department of Veterans Affairs opened a new $ 30 million medical clinic on Rivers Avenue, with the intention of opening it by the summer of 2021.
But then COVID-19 began to spread, alerting elderly veterans in South Carolina because of their vulnerability to the deadly virus because of their age and underlying health problems.
VA officials realized that thousands of veterans could be reached long before the opening scheduled for June and decided to act.
On February 1, the 75,000-square-foot facility opened its doors early, specifically so that patients could receive the much-needed vaccines.
The new Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic opened on February 1, 2021, in North Charleston, where veterans arrived for the COVID-19 vaccines. Grace Beahm Alford / Staff
Within days, veterans began migrating to the new clinic from across the state, like Don Kunego, a 74-year-old New York native who lives in Surfside Beach half the year. The 30-year-old Army veteran has been agonizing about not being able to receive the injection at Empire State, calling the VA clinic’s new option a godsend.
“I did this to protect my wife,” said Kunego. “Having that chance is like winning the lottery. And we veterans need to set an example for others.”
Kunego was one of hundreds of service veterinarians to receive the vaccine on the first day the clinic opened.
Another retiree there on the opening day was Samuel Jenkins, 95. The World War II Navy man woke up early to drive from Hilton Head Island to North Charleston with his daughter Barbara Lewis.
“We would have taken him anywhere to get that injection in his arm,” said Lewis.
Barbara Lewis laughs with her father, 95-year-old Navy veteran Samuel Jenkins, while waiting the required 15 minutes after her vaccination with COVID-19 at the new Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic on February 1, 2021, in North Charleston. Grace Beahm Alford / Staff
But the new North Charleston facility will have a lasting impact long after the pandemic is under control.
It will serve as a dental, mental health and primary mental health clinic for one of the fastest growing areas in South Carolina and can be crucial in providing faster access to care for Charleston area veterans for years to come.
Veterans leaving downtown Charleston
The Charleston region, including Berkeley, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties, contains the largest military presence in South Carolina, which is already a favorite state for veterans from ocean to mountains.
An economic impact report from the South Carolina Military Base Task Force estimates that there are more than 70,000 veterans in the Charleston area alone, and at least 15,000 of them are retired.
But that growth has placed a heavy burden on VA Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center on Bee Street in downtown Charleston. With limited parking, traffic congestion and growing fears of flooding, authorities saw another space as a necessity.
Nurse Sara Finch administers doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to veterans at the new Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic on February 1, 2021, in North Charleston. Grace Beahm Alford / Staff
Ralph Johnson is a full-service hospital that serves patients from across the state, providing care for veterans from Savannah and Hilton Head to Conway and Myrtle Beach. The new North Charleston clinic, located near the Interstate 526 interchange and east of Charleston Airport, will focus on providing primary care treatment, alleviating some of the burden at neighboring VA facilities in Goose Creek and Charleston.
Although most of the team is split between Ralph Johnson and the new clinic, at least 60 more workers will be hired to work at the North Charleston site.
The new Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in North Charleston aims to vaccinate 1,000 patients a day, five days a week. Grace Beahm Alford / Staff
Scott Isaacks, director of all VA medical systems in Charleston, said the growing trend for the veteran population locally has been taking place since he took office seven years ago. He considered North Charleston the perfect location for the new location.
“We have always had a philosophy of trying to take care of where veterans live,” said Isaacks. “If you look at where they live, it is in this direction. It is in Summerville. More of our population is moving out of the city center.”
The Rivers Avenue site was built by Carnegie Management and Development Corp. It has nearly 100 exam rooms, 18 dental chairs and seven facilities for women’s health exams. There will also be space for CT scans, ultrasounds, telemedicine consultations and a place for a future mobile MRI machine.
‘A way forward’
Although the Charleston VA medical system has received numerous accolades for government service, it does so when further scrutiny still looms over the system across the country.
During the administration of former President Barack Obama, reports across the country revealed massive waiting times, patient neglect and even cover-ups in some VA hospitals. A notable case was at the Columbia VA hospital, where a report by the 2013 inspector general revealed that late colonoscopies and other tests were related to neoplasms found in 52 patients.
As a result, at least six of those veterans later died.
During the opening ceremony in 2019, then VA secretary Robert Wilkie said the North Charleston clinic showed “a way forward” for the agency to provide better care for veterans and alleviate overburdened hospitals.
Veterans who had the first glimpse of the North Charleston facility agreed. Army veteran Robert Henry, 71, of Savannah, said the clinic was “beautiful” and that he is grateful to have received the COVID vaccine from the beginning.
“VA has been good for me,” said Robert Henry, who traveled from Savannah to the new Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic, where he received COVID-19 by nurse Lori Reed on February 1, 2021, in North Charleston. Grace Beahm Alford / Staff
“And I am relieved to have had the vaccine in a place like this,” he said.
The North Charleston clinic plans to vaccinate 1,000 veterans a day, five days a week. Thereafter, the plan is to provide regular medical care to more than 20,000 ex-servicemen every year.