Things running smoothly in new VA clinic

With all its new equipment installed and running, new classes being set up and new facilities for its patients, the Merril Lundman Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic’s first seven months in its new location at the Holiday Village Mall appear to have been very successful.

Registered Nurse Care Manager Teri Matosich said the clinic still sees new veterans sign up almost every day due in part to the great new location.

The clinic’s new space in the mall is almost three times larger than its previous location on 13th Street, near Northern Montana Hospital, and it features a number of significant improvements including a lab, a designated women’s health room, improved telehealth infrastructure, space for an on-site social worker and more.

At the time of its reopening, the clinic was still setting up some equipment, but, Matosich said, everything is installed and running smoothly with their on-site lab now fully operational.

The clinic is designed around the VA’s Patient Aligned Care Team — PACT — model, which allows veterans’ various needs to be addressed comprehensively by a team of health care professionals without the patient needing to leave the exam room, and Matosich said the model has been working very well in these first several months of operation.

She said staff did find working in the space, often in the same room for significant lengths of time, a bit of an odd change of pace, but it didn’t take long for the model’s benefits to become clear.

She said staff collaborate and problem-solve better, and the clinics layout has significantly improved communication among the team.

Matosich said this model has streamlined the experience for veterans cutting down on wait times, which are now typically very short.

“A lot of the time veterans would have to wait until we had an open room just for a nurse appointment ... that is really not a problem anymore,” she said.

The waiting room the new clinic has is also a significant improvement, she said, and has allowed veterans to maintain social distance while they wait.

On top of that, Matosich said, the equipment and specialized space provided by the new clinic have been a huge benefit to them and the veterans they serve.

She said now that all the telehealth equipment is up and running they’ve been able provided more services remotely, which is great for people who live in more rural areas and have trouble making the trip to see specialists.

She said some still opt to use their phones to communicate with specialists, but many are taking advantage of the new telehealth technology which has significantly improved their efficiency.

Matosich said the new women’s health room has also been a huge asset that many veterans seem to be loving.

She said the room is equipped to provide the examinations female patients need, and while some are still more comfortable getting those services from providers they’ve had for years, which Matosich completely understands, she does want people to know those services are available at the new clinic if they want them.

Matosich said the space has also allowed the clinic to have a mental health specialist on-site, which has been great.

She said the clinic still uses I-Frontier for mental health crisis intervention, but those who use that system can follow up with Mental Health Social Worker Sharon Dolph at the clinic.

She said the new clinic also allows Dolph to send people she’s seeing to get physical treatment for other issues while they’re there.

“It’s nice and streamlined even with that,” Matosich said.

Overall, she said, the reviews for the new location from local veterans have been great.

In addition to all the expected benefits of the location, she said, there has been some unexpected benefits for their Walk With Ease exercise classes.

Walk With Ease is a program run by the Arthritis Foundation that provides exercise classes that primarily help people living with arthritis.

Matosich said the Montana VA is the first in the U.S. to implement the classes in conjunction with the state, and while participants don’t need to have arthritis to sign up for and benefit from the classes, those with the condition may find it a huge help.

She said the clinic’s new location in the mall has been a significant unexpected benefit to the class, which can make use of the mall for walking.

“It’s been perfect for that,” Matosich said.

She said the clinic recently finished its first six-week course and are enrolling for the next.

She said more classes like this one will become available at the clinic as time goes on.

Matosich said the clinic is also doing a drive-through flu clinic Oct. 5 in the mall parking lot.

She said the pervious location’s parking lot meant they could only do drive-up clinics before but now they have enough space for a more convenient event.

As for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, she said, the VA is looking at how to go about handling booster shots for COVID-19, and a planning committee has been formed to look at ongoing vaccination efforts.

She said people in the community need to keep up their good hand hygiene, stay home when they’re sick and engage in all the other health practices to keep the community safe from COVID-19.

She said while the pandemic is still a source of concern awareness of spread-mitigation techniques is higher than last year and panic lower, and she hopes that continued.