VA Clinic Opening Soon In Toms River To Serve Veterans

TOMS RIVER, NJ — It has been 10 years in the making, but starting in two weeks the new Veterans Administration outpatient clinic will begin caring for veterans in the area.

The Toms River Clinic at 1051 Hooper Ave. will open Tuesday, Oct. 22, Veterans Affairs officials announced. The James J. Howard outpatient clinic in Brick will close permanently the day before, Oct. 21.

All appointments scheduled after Oct. 21 will automatically be transferred to the Toms River clinic, authorities said. Veterans will receive new appointment cards with updated information indicating their new location at the Toms River facility.

Groundbreaking on the $61 million facility has 68,000 square feet of space, with state-of-the-art medical equipment and access to specialties from dentistry to mental health and physical therapy, and supporting the health care needs of women who are veterans, officials said.

More importantly, it has 480 parking spaces — one of the biggest complaints about the Howard clinic in recent years, which was serving more than twice as many veterans as it was designed to help when it opened in 1990.

There are more than 35,000 veterans in Ocean County alone, according to U.S. Census data.

A grand opening celebration will be held in November, officials said.

The clinic is the result of 10 years of work and lobbying from veterans and officials following changes approved under the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014. That legislation resulted from extensive reports on serious failings of the VA in treating veterans, from extreme delays in access to care to sorely inadequate facilities.

"The opening of the Toms River Clinic marks a significant milestone in our mission to provide world-class healthcare to our veterans in Ocean County and beyond," said Patricia O’Kane, executive medical center director. "This new facility allows us to expand access to care, improve services and better meet the needs of our veteran community. We are excited to welcome them to this state-of-the-art clinic."

"This new addition to the VA New Jersey Healthcare System reflects our ongoing commitment to delivering enhanced healthcare services to veterans across Ocean County and surrounding areas," officials said. "We look forward to welcoming our veterans and ensuring they receive the highest level of care in this expanded, modern facility."

The process of bidding the project started in 2016, and was scrapped once before the VA began seeking bids for a new site in 2018. The 2018 contract process was abruptly canceled May 1, 2019, amid anticipation of the announcement of a new clinic. VA officials have never announced the reasons for the cancellation, and within days a new solicitation was posted, with similar specifications to the 2018 request for bids.

The VA decided to restart the site selection process with a pre-solicitation on May 22, 2020. Toms River officials said the town managed to finalize a redeveloper designation with FD Stonewater in less than three weeks for the project.

Toms River officials have said after the Hooper-Caudina site was chosen as a possibility, the town and FD Stonewater worked to refine it and added other parcels to the site, including property owned by Toms River Fire Company 2. Plans and artists' renderings of the site were submitted to the VA on Sept. 25, 2020, the township said.

FD Stonewater has built a number of facilities for the federal government, including VA clinics in Maryland and one in Maine.