Secretary Shinseki Announces New Outpatient Clinic for Peoria

Larger Facility to Replace Bob Michel Clinic

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced plans to replace the Bob Michel Community Based Outpatient Clinic, operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Peoria, with a new, larger clinic by mid-2011.

"VA is committed to providing 21st century health care to the men and women who have served this nation," Secretary Shinseki said. "This expanded and improved clinic will ensure Illinois’ Veterans continue to have the health care they have earned."

VA has selected the JRA Development Group of Pittsburgh to build a 37,000-square-foot facility at Orange Prairie Road and American Prairie Drive. The developer will own the land and the building, leasing it to VA for about $1.6 million annually for up to 20 years.

The new facility will be 5,800 square feet larger than the current clinic at 411 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.

The current, 30-year-old clinic is part of the VA Illiana Health Care System, serving Veterans in central Illinois and west central Indiana. It offers primary care, including home-based and women’s care, optometry, audiology, neurology, podiatry, laboratory and mental health services. The clinic also provides transportation for patients to VA medical centers in Danville, Ill., and Iowa City, Iowa.

The clinic has 91 employees and sees more than 9,000 Veterans, with more than 46,000 outpatient visits per year.

Additional services the new clinic will offer include physical medicine and rehabilitation, compensation and pension eligibility exams, environmental agent exams, onsite mobile MRI screening, mammography, expanded women’s health services and other specialty services. The new building will have parking for 311 vehicles.