[getdul981]

My wife and I will be moving to TV within the next year. I'm a disabled veteran and have been told there is a VA Clinic on TV property. Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with this facility, or do you go to another, larger facility? Thanks for any info.

[RVRoadie]

I use the VA Clinic here in the Villages. However, a new much larger primary care clinic will be opening soon, so that should eliminate many of the referrals that now go to the VA Hospital in Gainsville.

I copied this from the VA site:

Construction of a 90,000 square foot multi-specialty outpatient clinic began Jun3 2008. The facility will be located at 8900 SE 165th Mulberry Lane, The Villages, Florida 32162 and will replace the existing community based outpatient clinic (CBOC) located at 1950 Laurel Manor Drive, Building 240, The Villages, Florida, Florida 32162. The new clinic will provide a broad range of general and specialized medical, dental, surgical, psychiatric, nursing and ancillary services. Activation is expected in August 2010.

[chuckinca]

Other than being a Vet, what is required to be able to use the VA medical facility?

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[RVRoadie]

Here is a link that explains VA eligibility. If you are a Vet, go ahead and apply for primary care. They periodically open up the VA to new patients as older Vets pass on. If you are priority 8 you will have to pay a modest co-pay for services.

[Bryan]

I have had pretty good luck using the VA Clinic here in TV, and I have been using it for several years now. Like most/many VA clinics, they DO NOT do a good job on emergency stuff and/or sudden illness. You need to go to an emergency room (there is a hospital on Villages property also - The Villages Regional Hospital) or a "Doc in a Box" emergency care clinic (there are several in/around TV). The VA does an excellent job on scheduled care and on-going illness (i.e. annual physicals, vision tests, etc.) as well as care for permanent conditions (i.e. diabeties, etc.) where your appointments are scheduled, pre-planned, and they can react. Routine tests (i.e. blood work) they do here. More extensive test now require a trip to the VA Hospital in Gainesville (i.e. CAT or MRI, Hearing, Pain Clinic Visits, etc.). Once the new VA clinic opens, trips to Gainesville should become less frequent.

The new VA Clinic, scheduled to open in August (we are talking the government here so expect Oct/Nov realistically) will be much larger and offer many more services. For now, the DAV offers a FREE daily van service from TV to the VA Hospital in Gainesville. You have to reserve your seat on the van (limit of 10 or 11 patients per day) by calling the DAV Van Dispatcher at 352-205-8909. If room permits, they will also allow a caregiver to accompany you on the van. The downside is it leaves TV at 0645 hours for Gainesville (about a 75 mile trip) and returns only when the last rider has completed their appointment and is ready to return (or at 1400 hours - whichever comes first) so you can end up spending almost an entire day on one appointment in Gainesville. The van runs Monday thru Friday except holidays.

FYI, the existing and future VA clinics in TV are golf cart accessible - you don't need a car. The existing VA clinic is located fairly centrally in TV near the Laurel Manor Recreation Center (CR 466 and Buena Vista Blvd. approximately). The new VA Clinic will be on the North edge of TV, near the Mulberry Grove Recreation Center (CR 42 and Mulberry Lane approximately).

[getdul981]

Thanks a bunch for the information. Looks like the new facility will be up and running by the time we get moved.