The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding into Collin County.
Right now, veterans have to drive to VA hospitals in Dallas or Bonham for medical care. But that will change for thousands of veterans when a new VA Outpatient Clinic opens in Plano.
The VA says it put the facility – located at located at 3804 West 15th Street – in Plano because of the city's growing population.
There are more 11,000 veterans who live near the new clinic. But stipulations put in place by the VA means only 6,000 qualify to use it.
Marty Nell, a Vietnam War veteran, is one of them.
"This is a definite life-changer for me," Nell said.
Nell visits the Dallas VA every couple of months.
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"It's an all-day trip. I usually don't get home until 3 or 4 o'clock," he said.
Nell said he received a letter in the mail earlier this summer letting him know he qualified to use the new Plano clinic.
According to the VA, veterans must be at least 77 years old and live within 15 miles of the clinic, or must have at least 30-percent service-connected disability and live within 15 miles of the clinic.
"That would be kind of frustrating, that I am 100-percent and some of the stipulations on the clinic is 30-percent or more or 77 years old, which is kind of strange," said disabled veteran Stephen Smith.
But Smith may still benefit from the clinic because there won't be as many patients seeking care at the main VA hospitals.
The VA says the size of the 10,000-square-foot clinic in Plano limits the amount patients it can see and lets them focus providing on quality care.
The outpatient clinic is just the beginning of the VA's expansion into the Plano market.
The VA was recently approved for the construction of a 17,000-square-foot specialty care clinic and will begin the initial design phase later this year.
