Ex-Davenport grocery store to be new Veterans Affairs clinic

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - The site of a shuttered grocery store will be converted into a new Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Davenport, according to VA officials.

Work is expected to begin in January or February to renovate the former Jewel Foods store across from the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, said Iowa City Veterans Affairs Health Care System spokesman Bryan Clark. The project is estimated to cost just over $4 million and will replace the Bettendorf clinic location, according to the Quad-City Times (http://bit.ly/2gxYt4V ).

The clinic is set to offer improved examination and treatment space and dedicated women's health exam rooms. The clinic will also provide expanded tele-health services, which enables a doctor or other health care provider to consult with patients in the patient's own home.

Other services that will be offered that aren't at the Bettendorf location include audiology, podiatry, optometry, physical therapy, chiropractic care and acupuncture. It will also be about 11,000 square feet larger than the Bettendorf clinic, and will serve about 2,400 more veterans.

Officials expect the clinic to open in the summer of 2018.

Clark said that while all new patients at the Bettendorf clinic are seen within 30 days of signing up for care, the center is "at capacity." About 35 percent of the patients at the Bettendorf clinic are between 65 and 75 years old, or Vietnam era, he said.

The Iowa City VA serves 51 counties in Iowa and Illinois, and sees about 51,000 veterans a year.

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Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com