Hundreds of veterans and their families turned out Monday afternoon to celebrate the opening of a new VA health clinic in Davenport. With a staff of 70, it's expected to serve 12,000 veterans from Iowa and Illinois.
Clinic manager Cindy McGee says not only will it replace a smaller clinic in Bettendorf that opened in 1995, the new and much larger clinic will offer more services including audiology, opthamology, and chiropractic.
"We feel that the continuation and addition of these services are a huge benefit for our VA veterans in the Quad City community. And we thank you so much for being here to help us celebrate this new beginning."
Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch says he was humbled to be in the same room with so many veterans.
"My four kids and 10 grand-kids - our life would be different if it hadn't been for all of you. And I think that's extremely important for all of us to continue to remember."
The 24 year old clinic in Bettendorf was at capacity, serving about 9,000 veterans. And it had limited parking.
At the new clinic veterans will be taken care of by eight, five-person "care teams," made up of a doctor, nurse, clerk, LPN, and social worker.
