PORTLAND, Maine — Surviving 12 years of planning and three presidential administrations, the ribbon was cut for a new outpatient Veterans Affairs clinic in Portland.
The 62,000 square-foot, $64 million facility, located at 141 West Commercial Street, brings a plethora of services under one roof and replaces former clinics in Saco and Portland. Plans began in 2010 and took a journey through red tape over three presidential administrations.
Stephen Santos, a member of Disabled American Veterans, toured the building Friday and said, aside from a being brand new space, the facility would attract vets who had previously given up making trips to multiple VA offices around the state to get the treatment they needed.
"That's gonna stop a lot of that, and I think that's a huge boon for getting our veterans the help that they need locally," he said.
Not only was the construction a decade in the making, but it was also built specifically with the veterans in mind, as explained by staff during the tour. White noise will be pumped through the ceiling, so private conversations remain private. In each office, decorative screens in the windows were put in so the right amount of light could filter into a room.
Donald Remy, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs deputy secretary, traveled from Washington, D.C., to help christen the clinic.
"It brings a lot of services that they previously didn't have access to," Remy said after the ribbon-cutting. "I think our veteran population is going to be really excited and pleased with the services that they'll receive here and with the facility and the manner in which we'll be able to provide that care."
The outpatient clinic is scheduled to open Monday. As hospital systems throughout the U.S. faced workforce shortages and burnout, VA Maine System Healthcare Director Tracye Davis said 175 full-time and rotating staff would be ready to serve on Monday and that once they settled into their new workplace, they wouldn't want to leave any time soon.