New Outpatient ClinicApproved For Queens Vets

The boroughs first veterans outpatient medical clinic will be opened in a new north Queens facility later this year by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"In Queens alone, there are more than 100,000 military service veterans," said Congressman Joseph Crowley. "That is nearly a third of all the veterans in New York City. Veterans in Queens will no longer have to travel to places like the Bronx, Manhattan, or Suffolk County for their health care."
The $350,000 northern Queens outpatient health center, staffed by VA employees, will provide annual health services for an estimated 4,000 veterans. Geared to accommodate 15,000 annual medical visits, it will reduce the long trips that Queens vets are currently required to make to the VA Medical Center on 130 Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx.
Hailing Crowleys efforts to get the clinic, Borough President Claire Shulman said, "While Queens has more veterans than any other borough, many of them must travel to other boroughs for the services they need. This new clinic in northern Queens will go a long way toward relieving the additional burden of traveling and expenses for deserving veterans in need of health care services."
According to current VA reports, Queens has the largest concentration of honorably discharged veterans in New York City four times more than in Staten Island, twice as many as in the Bronx, 50 percent more than in Manhattan, and 13 percent more than in Brooklyn. Citing this higher-than-average concentration of veterans in Queens, Crowley said that veterans in Queens "are often older and sicker than their counterparts in other parts of the country."
The new facility will provide an important and convenient  key to lower pharmaceutical costs for Queens veterans. Service veterans, according to federal law, may get a 30-day supply of prescribed medication for as little as two dollars.
Slated to open later this year, the $350,000 VA-staffed facility will also provide access to radiology and pharmacy services to 4,000 veterans making an estimated 15,000 visits.
The new medical unit will be geared to serve Queens 95,610 residents who served in five major wars, ranging from 37,800 World War II vets to a hardy band of 20 World War I vets. Also eligible are 26,530 veterans who served during peacetime.
Veterans seeking VA benefits for the first time must submit a copy of their service discharge (Form DD214), which documents their service dates and type of discharge. For more details on eligibility, call 1-800-827-1000.