New Fort Campbell VA Clinic expands access to health care for TN and KY veterans
FORT CAMPBELL, KY – A brand new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Clinic has made its debut inside Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) on Fort Campbell.
The Fort Campbell VA Clinic has the capacity to give 3,000 veterans better access to health care.
“What the VA Clinic brings is an opportunity for us to increase the complexity of the health care services that we provide so that we can train and be ready to fight and win America’s next war on the battlefield as medics and providers,” said Col. Sam Preston, commander of BACH.
The facility’s location right on the Tennessee–Kentucky state line was strategic. Montgomery County, which includes part of Fort Campbell, is the fastest-growing county for veterans in Tennessee.
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“A lot of folks that get off active duty at Fort Campbell decide to stick around, and, of course, Clarksville is the place that people are moving,” said Michael Renfrow, deputy executive director for the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS).
Currently, there are over 21,000 veterans enrolled at the Clarksville VA Clinic. There are also upwards of 15,600 veterans who are eligible for care but are not signed up.
TVHS serves more than 140,000 veterans living in Middle Tennessee, southern Kentucky and northern Georgia. About 16% of those patients reside in Montgomery County.
“Right now, if you’re a veteran and you live in the Clarksville area, odds are you are driving to Nashville for some of that specialty care,” Renfrow said. “We want to get as much of that care as close to the veteran as we can.”
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The new Fort Campbell VA Clinic is a partnership between the VA and the Department of Defense that offers veterans primary and mental health care, lab work, whole health services like acupuncture and physical therapy and social work providers.
“It’ll be amongst our biggest outpatient clinics away from our hospital campuses that we have in our inventory, so it’s a big deal for our staff and our team,” said Daniel Dücker, TVHS executive director. “We’re excited to be able to provide more specialty care, and other ancillary services in that bigger space as well.”
Renfrow said he’s confident this expansion of resources can help put an end to veteran suicide and homelessness.
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“The sooner we get folks into primary care, the sooner we can start managing long-term chronic diseases that will ultimately make them healthier as they continue to age and ideally keep them out of the hospital,” Renfrow said.
TVHS said thanks to the PACT Act, it’s set to create three new outpatient clinics to better serve the growing veteran populations in Clarksville, Cookeville and Nashville by 2027–2028.
For more information, visit the TVHS website.
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