After months of delays, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday announced the location of the area’s new clinic.
“A new VA clinic will be built near Grissom Air Reserve Base to serve Veterans in the region,” a news release from the agency said.
The announcement of the new clinic and its location follows years of waiting and months delays for a final decision on the matter.
The Tribune first reported on the project in 2017 when the VA said that it was planning to increase the capacity of the current clinic in Peru, located on North Broadway, from 3,000 to 6,000 patients.
In September, as representatives from the VA came to Miami County for their annual town hall-style meeting, officials assured veterans that a decision on the location would likely come that fall with a decision on the award for the contractor to come in the spring of this year. At the time they said the decision making process for the location was tied up outside of their office.
Completion for the project at that time was slated for spring of 2021.
That has now been pushed to at least fall of 2021, “dependent on the construction timeline,” the release said.
"The new clinic will be located on W. Hoosier Blvd near the entrance to Grissom Air Base and will be approximately twice as large as the current community-based outpatient clinic at 750 N. Broadway in Peru,” it said. “The additional square footage will accommodate up to five primary care patient-aligned care team (PACT), with focus on increasing access for appointments to Veterans.”
It will offer “expanded space” for mental health as well providing physical therapy and rehabilitation services.
The location at Grissom, just off of U.S. 31 will make for easy access for veterans from Miami, Cass, Howard, Wabash, Fulton and Pulaski counties, the release said.
Groundbreaking is scheduled for later this year.