OTTUMWA — There’s no guarantee, but Ottumwa could see its own medical clinic for veterans open in the next year or so.

That’s the word from U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, who was in Ottumwa Wednesday to discuss the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (C-BOC) that is scheduled to be built here. 

The Veterans’ Administration is establishing the clinic in Ottumwa to improve access to primary and specialty care for veterans from around the southeast Iowa region. Estimates call for 6,719 existing patients and 750 new patients to come to Ottumwa for treatment.

Loebsack said even though a bill he supported will raise mileage reimbursement for veterans, being cared for closer to home can reduce hardship on those individuals and families currently traveling out of town for their care.

“[And] it will save the VA a ton of money,” added Don Shafer, an Eldon veteran invited to the meeting.

Other veterans present pointed out that some patients drive all the way to Iowa City and back just to receive 30 minutes of physical therapy.

“It’s a sign that the neglect some of you have felt in the past will be alleviated to some extent,” Loebsack said.

Shafer said he hoped so. Since his service in the Korean War, he has seen VA benefits come and go as politics come into play. Loebsack agreed that can happen, and that in the past, VA benefits have been too easy to cut.

“It makes no sense to me [for that money] to be discretionary,” he said, adding that he has supported a bill that will make veterans issues a mandatory funding issue.

Dan Hoy, the Wapello County director of veteran affairs, asked if officials in Washington have decided what services will be available locally.

Loebsack told him there will be comprehensive primary care, education, health maintenance and routine urgent care. As for physical therapy, Loebsack’s information was that if there is enough need for it, it should be provided, though he would research that to be sure.

He also said he wanted to be able to take issues back to Washington with him.

Hoy told him two concerns raised locally concerned research into traumatic brain injury, or TBI, as well as attention to suicide prevention for soldiers returning from combat, including better identification of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hoy added he has seen good support for veterans through both political parties. Loebsack, a Democrat, said this Republican president has been supportive of funding for former soldiers, too.

“There’s so many things that need to be corrected,” Loebsack said. “I think we’ve got a lot done — in a bipartisan way. The House and the president have gotten along on [this issue].”