A new VA clinic is being built in Monroe County to provide veterans easier access to healthcare. The clinic is expected to open in fall 2025 and will be located along State Road 46 between Bloomington and Ellettsville.
Deeksha Ahuja, associate director of Veteran Health Indiana, said the new clinic will offer primary care, mental health, physical therapy, social work, dietetics, audiology services and more to approximately 5,000 veterans in the area.
“We’ll have providers from all different areas really focusing on the veteran,” she said. “Having this one clinic will really allow us to focus on that.”
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Bloomington currently has two separate veteran clinics; one provides physical therapy and outpatient care and the other provides mental health services. Once the new clinic opens, both locations will close.
“When it came up for lease renewal, we chose to combine those services into one larger clinic in the area to help streamline the care of our veterans,” Ahuja said.
This project is part of an ongoing effort in the healthcare system to expand care for military veterans. Even though Ahuja does not think there is a shortage of care for veterans, she thinks it is important to make services more widely available.
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“I think we are now putting clinics in the right places where our veterans are living,” she said. “It wasn't harder for them [veterans] to access care…they may have to drive a little bit further.”
Contractors are finalizing plans after last week’s groundbreaking ceremony. The project will cost about $7.5 million.