Bennington Slated For New Veterans Clinic

February 9, 1998

Sen. Patrick Leahy announced Feb. 6 that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has approved a new outpatient veterans clinic in Bennington. The Veterans Administration Community Based Outpatient Clinic, which should open this year -- as early as this summer -- will allow Bennington-area veterans to receive much of their primary care in Bennington, rather than needing to travel to the White River Junction VA Regional Medical Center.

Leahy wrote and inserted a provision into the agency=s 1998 funding bill asking the VA to establish the clinic in Bennington. Leahy was able to do this as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittee on VA/HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations, which handles the annual budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.

Hundreds of Bennington area veterans had expressed interest in opening a clinic in Bennington, according to Leahy.

The Bennington clinic proposal now needs approval by the Appropriations Committees in the Senate and House. Leahy predicts early approval of the request by his committee and by the counterpart House panel.

"This is some good news for veterans and for Bennington that we have been pushing hard to achieve,@ said Senator Leahy. AIt is an important improvement in access to quality health care for veterans. For some veterans, getting from Bennington to White River can be difficult and sometimes even dangerous, especially in winter."