Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins attended the ribbon cutting for the North Battlefield Clinic in Chesapeake Thursday. The clinic is scheduled to open April 17, as the VA undergoes a round of cuts under the Trump administration.
“At the end of the day, if the VA exists to get bigger and offer more stuff, but doesn't help our veterans, VA is a hollow organization that doesn't fulfill its purpose,” Collins said.
The Trump administration ordered the VA to cut 15% of its budget, though Collins said the VA may not make that target. The process has been haphazard. A dozen probationary workers were let go at the Hampton VA, including several veterans. At least one of the supply techs from Hampton has been hired back to work at the new Chesapeake clinic.
Collins defended opening the clinic with only 150 of the 550 staffers to provide primary care, mental health and prescription services. He said the clinic was always expected to open in stages though VA documents, including an independent Inspector General’s report, showed the VA expected to open Chesapeake with double the number of patient care teams.
“Have y'all been to a restaurant lately that did a cold opening? All of them do (this) ….The VA is no different,” Collins said.
The Clinic at North Battlefield broke ground in 2022. It’s built on the campus of the Chesapeake Regional Healthcare Campus. In Chesapeake, 14.5% of the population are military veterans, which is high even by Virginia standards and more than double the national average.
The VA released an updated timeline that shows the clinic will expand the services being offered at North Battlefield in July, adding dental teams and expanded mental health teams. In January, the clinic will expand to include radiology, eye care and telehealth as it reaches full staff.
North Battlefield is opening at a time when the number of patients in Hampton Roads is surging. The region is the 10th fastest-growing VA system in the country. Roughly 70% of the patients live south of the James River while the hospital is located in Hampton, according to interim Director of Operations Michael Harper.
Another VA facility is already in the pipeline in Chesapeake. The Western Branch outpatient clinic at 4300 Portsmouth Boulevard is scheduled to open in September, according to the website of developer, Avison Young.
A 2022 VA study predicted the veteran population in Chesapeake would grow by more than 25% by 2029. The study was released before the PACT Act dramatically increased the number of veterans using VA healthcare nationwide.
The Hampton VA system has seen 70,000 new patients since the PACT Act. Hampton has the only VA hospital in the region, but much of the veteran population lives in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, which have seen an influx of post-9/11 veterans.
