The El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System is expanding its footprint well beyond its main VA Medical Center clinic in North Central El Paso with plans for two community clinics to be built by the end of 2019.
The VA plans to move most of its mental health services from its main Medical Center, located next to William Beaumont Army Medical Center, to a new building on the Medical Center of the Americas campus in South-Central El Paso and open a West Side clinic in a new building in the Northwest Corporate Center industrial park by the end of next year, said retired Army Col. Michael Amaral, director of the El Paso VA Health Care System.
The VA will lease the new clinic buildings being built by private contractors. It also has plans to move its admin-istrative offices by the end of 2019 to two historic buildings to be renovated inside Fort Bliss.
The El Paso VA Health Care System, which includes a Las Cruces clinic, employs about 900 people, including about 850 at its main Medical Center, and has an annual budget of $260 million.
The El Paso system handled more than 31,000 patients with more than 300,000 visits in 2017, according to VA officials.