VA Sets Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony To Unveil New Clinic In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The new state-of-the-art Veterans Administration clinic in Toms River will be formally unveiled during a ribbon-cutting ceremony next week, the VA said Tuesday.

The ceremony is set for 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 18, and will include remarks from the VA's Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, who then will tour the clinic with veterans and members of New Jersey's congressional delegation, the VA said.

The new Multi-Specialty Outpatient Clinic includes services for both men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and serves 58,000 veterans in Ocean and Monmouth counties and the surrounding area, VA officials said.

In addition to the ribbon-cutting, the VA will be hosting an enrollment and PACT Act event from noon to 4 p.m. for veterans who are not currently receiving VA health care. Veterans can bring their DD214 to enroll in health care. Veterans can meet with a claims representative from Veterans Benefits Administration to file a claim for benefits, receive a Toxic Exposure Screening or speak to someone from National Cemetery Administration, officials said.

The 68,000-square-foot facility opened Oct. 22 to begin serving veterans, the result of years of efforts to improve care for veterans in the southern part of New Jersey. Veterans had been receiving care at the James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic in Brick, but the need had long outstripped the facility's ability to provide care. Parking in particular had become a vexing issue, with some veterans unable to get care because they were forced to park some distance away, farther than they were able to walk.

The Toms River facility has 480 parking spaces.

It will be expanding its offerings to encompass primary health care, women's care, dental care, mental health counseling, and physical therapy.

There is hope among New Jersey's congressional delegation is to name the clinic for Lt. Leonard G. "Bud" Lomell, a former Toms River residet=, who was a hero in World War 2 at Normandy Beach, but the status of a House of Representatives resolution to do that was unchanged on Tuesday.

The clinic is located at 1055 Hooper Ave., Toms River, between Seacourt Pavilion and the Esplanade Office Park, and near the new 121,000-square-foot, three-story building housing Ocean County's Board of Social Services and Veterans Service Bureau.

Previous reporting:

• VA Clinic In Toms River Heralded As Step To Fulfilling Promise Care For Nation's Veterans
  
• VA Clinic Opening Soon In Toms River To Serve Veterans
• New VA Clinic To Be Named For Toms River World War 2 Hero Lomell