(Spirit Lake)– Plans by the Veteran’s Administration to locate an out-patient clinic in Spirit Lake have been put on hold.
Dickinson County Veteran’s Affairs Director John Tonsfeldt tells KUOO news it appears the Veterans Administration and congress have not agreed on funding. He says holding back the clinics appears to be the V-A’s way of telling congress they don’t have the money to provide all of the services needed to support returning veterans and to increase access to V-A healthcare.
Tonsfeldt says the V-A officials he’s visited with are cautiously optimistic funding WILL be found to open the Spirit Lake clinic in September of this year. If funding is NOT obtained, Tonsfeldt says the V-A officials have told him they’ll come back and hold townhall meetings similar to those in October of last year to explain the situation and answer questions.
Tonsfeldt says he’s been in contact with the local congressional delegation on the matter, but as of Wednesday hadn’t heard anything back yet.
He’s urging local residents to contact them as well about the matter.
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