| Mayfield to Get VA Med Center |
Matt Schorr, Mayfield Messenger (reprinted with permission)
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| September 19, 2008 |
Mayfield is slated to be the future home of a VA Medical Center, to be located at Wyatt Crossing Shopping Center.
Tommy Waldrop from Waldrop & Waldrop reported today the space of the "Community Based Outpatient Clinic" will be roughly 8,500 square feet. The plan is to build just under 10,000 square feet, with some additional space for lease.
"It will be a brick building," he said," and we're looking at a couple of options to make it highly energy-efficient. It'll be a very 'green' building."
At the moment, Waldrop & Waldrop has yet to submit a site plan to the city of Mayfield, but they hope to have one within the next 30 days. The current plan calls for 18 exam rooms, several meeting and resource rooms, and extensive data and telephone cabling. There will be a covered carport, similar to those at the entrance of many hotel lobbies.
"Where a veteran can be dropped off and ushered into the building without getting wet (from rain)," Waldrop said.
Ron McClure from the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs has reported the clinic will house three panels of medical staff, including at least one doctor, physician assistants or nurse practitioners, and a behavioral unit. McClure, a veterans benefit field representative in Mayfield, expects to have an office in the new building. He believed it would serve approximately 4,800 veterans.
Representatives from the VA Medical Center in Marion, Ill., hope the Mayfield location will become a highly regional location, drawing potential veterans from as far as Weakley, Obion, and Stewart Counties in Northern Tennessee. Peggy Willoughby, a representative from the Marion center, believed those patients are currently traveling to Nashville or Memphis for healthcare.
According to federal job web sites, the clinic is already searching for clinic staff, such as nurses, clerical workers, and even a psychiatrist. The official website of Valor Healthcare (www.valorhealthcare.com), the contractor for the VA clinics, reports that every clinic offers individual and group therapy, on-site X-ray and laboratory services, primary care, and mental health services.
"I think what's important to Mayfield and Mayfield retailers is we'll be bringing people into the heart of Mayfield's retail district," Waldrop said.
Mayfield's clinic will be built behind the West Kentucky Rural Telephone Technology Store and will face Peeble's and Hibbett's at the Wyatt Crossing Shopping Center. It will only be blocks away from the Wal-Mart Supercenter, the Mayfield Shopping Plaza, and other local retail stores and restaurants.
Waldrop believes the clinic selected his proposed site because they wanted an area with options for shopping and eating establishments. "There are times people will drop a veteran off for a meeting or whatever and have nothing to do," he said. "There, they can shop for sporting goods, Wal-Mart groceries, (and more)."
Waldrop submitted his proposal, along with several other Mayfield and regional developers, earlier this year. The VA clinic narrowed those proposal down through what Waldrop said they called their "decision matrix." Representatives also visited the site several weeks ago, along with a handful of others, before ultimately selecting the location in Mayfield's shopping district.
Waldrop estimated they would occupy the finished building by spring of 2009. He expected to begin dirt work within the next 10 days and for construction to begin in the next 30 days.
"They're extremely anxious to get this thing going, and they've even asked us if we'd be willing to work two shifts a day, 16-hour days," Waldrop said. "We'll be doing that to the extent that it's possible."
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