East Sonora vet clinic making progress

The new veterans clinic under construction in East Sonora is set to be completed sometime in August and will likely be operational by the end of September, according to Katelin Haver, a Palo Alto-based planner for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The clinic, at 3663 Mono Way, will replace the VA clinic at 19747 Greenley Road. At roughly 8,000 square-feet, the new clinic will have a “significant amount of more space” than the current facility, Haver said. The existing clinic is 3,500 square-feet.

Contractors for the project are Mark and Scott Patterson.

Increased space isn’t the only benefit the new clinic will provide, according to Haver.

“With the opening of the new clinic, the VA will be adding an additional medical provider, a number of increased mental health services and a case manager,” Haver said. “The new space will also allow for a number of visiting services to take place in Sonora, including a family counselor.”

Local veterans groups are excited about the move.

“The old clinic is inadequate,” said Frank Smart, of the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter. “Several (local) locations over the years have been inadequate. For years, the VA did not service rural veterans, but some people can’t get out to Livermore or Palo Alto because of age or infirmities.”

Sonora is part of the Palo Alto branch of the VA health care system, which includes facilities in Stockton, Modesto, Livermore, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, San Jose, Capitola and Monterey.

George Fry, an officer for the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter, also expressed enthusiasm about the clinic.

“I think it’s going to be an awesome thing for the veterans of our community because they are no longer going to have to travel and there’s going to be expanded services.”

According to Fry, there are around 7,000 veterans in Tuolumne County.

Local veterans are also hoping to get a memorial built at the clinic. Smart and other members of the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America are sponsoring a fund drive to get enough money for the memorial.

To raise funds, the group is selling space on 4-by-8-inch and 8-by-8-inch bricks that will make up the memorial, on which buyers can engrave a message.

The memorial will be dedicated to veterans of all wars, according to Smart.

“Right now, we have no timeline because we’re still selling bricks,” Smart said.