The new VA Clinic in Minot is located at the Southside Plaza, 3400 S. Broadway.

“This is a special place because of the nation’s heroes who walk through these doors every day and the dedicated hard-working staff who care for them,” said Lavonne Liversage, director of the Fargo Veterans Administration Health Care System.

Liversage spoke at the ribbon cutting and open house held Jan. 8 for the new Minot Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Minot.

The clinic, formerly located at Minot Air Force Base, opened in its new location at the Southside Plaza, 3400 S. Broadway in Minot on Dec. 14, 2018.

At 9,650 square feet, the new clinic is nearly three times more space than the previous clinic located at Minot AFB, according to VA information.

With the new clinic located in Minot as opposed to at the base, veterans will have an easier time accessing their care because they do not have to go through the security and paperwork process of entering a military installation.

The new clinic has 10 exam rooms, three consultation rooms, laboratory and dedicated rooms for women’s health, procedures and telehealth services.

The new layout of the clinic better utilizes the Patient Aligned Care Team model which is intended to transform the way veterans receive care, according to VA information. Patient Aligned Care Teams enhance veterans’ care by providing patient-driven, proactive, personalized, team-based care focused on wellness and disease prevention, resulting in improvements in veteran satisfaction, health care outcomes, efficiency and costs.

“We hope this clinic sends a message however large or small. The services of veterans are valued and we’re committed to providing you with the best medical care possible,” Liversage said.

As people toured the clinic that day, she said they would notice the design of the clinic is very different from the clinic that was at the Air Force base. “The VA has adopted a model of care called “patient aligned care team,” which is a team approach in providing care. This design is far more conducive to team collaboration, which allows us to ensure veterans’ needs are met by the right person at the right time,” Liversage said.

“It truly takes a village to pull off a project of this magnitude,” Liversage said. She said those who helped the VA “get where it is today” with the new clinic include the veterans and their service to this country and for putting their faith in the Fargo VA Health Care System. Providing you with high quality, safe and innovative patient care is our highest priority. Your continued support of our health care system helps us to obtain the financial resources to continuously improve our services and our infrastructure.”

She also thanked the highly dedicated employees of the Minot Community Based Outpatient Clinic and those at the Fargo VA Health Care System in Fargo for their countless hours in helping this project come to fruition. “Several employees have worked very hard on this project and are incredibly fortunate and proud to serve veterans alongside all of you,” she said.

Liversage said the Veterans Integrated Service Network VA Midwest Health Care Network 23 Contracting Team contributed to the project. VISN 23 located in Eagen, Minn., oversees the VA health care systems in North Dakota and several other states. She said there is a very vigorous process to go through to obtain funding for a project such as the new clinic. “Without the support of our network staff we would not be here today,” she said.

She said project partners have also played a vital role in building the new clinic, including the lessor, Shop On Broadway LLC, and Rolac Contracting. “Your hard work and dedication has been really invaluable to making this clinic what it is today,” Liversage said. The contract with Shop On Broadway, LLC, is a 10-year lease.

She said the veterans service organizations and the veterans service officers’ overall advocacy and support of veterans and the VA Health Care System are also an important part of the project.

“We’re committed to continuing our support to VA’s mission as decreed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865: ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.’ Our veterans deserve and expect the highest quality of health care and this new clinic will help us continue to deliver the care that they’ve earned,” Liversage said.

Sally Johnson of Sen. John Hoeven’s Minot office, said, “This is a wonderful, wonderful day.” She said the clinic is one of the issues that has come up regularly over the years. “We had so many calls for the whens and timing when this will move into Minot. I think this is going to be a great benefit for all veterans,” she said. She read a letter from Hoeven thanking all who have worked to transition the clinic to the Minot community. “We cannot show enough gratitude to our veterans but in these and other ways we can honor their bravery and service. Our veterans are the greatest in the world and it is because of their efforts that America is the greatest nation in the world has ever known,” Hoeven wrote.

Kaitlyn Weidert of Sen. Kevin Cramer’s office in Minot, said, the new clinic “is a great accomplishment.” In a letter from Cramer that she read to those at the ribbon cutting and open house, Cramer congratulated everyone with the Fargo VA Health Care System for developing greater veterans’ healthcare services in Minot and for all they are doing to increase accessibility to programs, services and facilities across the region. “As a nation it is our sacred duty to recognize and honor our veterans. They deserve only the highest level of care when it comes to their health and well being,” Cramer said in the letter. He said the enhanced services offered at the new clinic will ensure Minot area veterans have greater access to state-of-the-art health care throughout their lives.

Shaun Sipma, mayor of Minot, said, “This enhancement is going to make a significant difference to not only this community but to the region itself because we know veterans live all across our great state in the small towns and rural areas – many came back to farm. This is an accessibility issue, this is a quality of service issue that is greatly appreciated to see this expansion within our community and it will make a significant different,” he said.