U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin (both D-MD), Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun searching for a location in Montgomery County for a new Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). While the VA’s goal is for no veteran to be more than 30 minutes from medical care, many of Montgomery County’s veterans face a much longer drive to reach the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The VA’s search is a promising sign that after years of delay, veterans in the region will have access to the quality care they deserve.
“I am very pleased to hear that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to open a Community-Based Outpatient Clinic here in Montgomery County,” said Leggett. “In 2008, I established the Montgomery County Commission on Veterans Affairs to give our veterans a voice in how the County can best serve them, and they said having services here in the County is a priority. Thanks to Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski for making it happen.”
The VA is searching for space to lease in the area of Rockville and Gaithersburg. Of the more than 44,600 veterans living in Montgomery County, more than 10,000 are enrolled in the VA health care system. According to statistics provided by the VA, over 4,000 of these veterans live within easy driving distance of the general area.
