PCC Draws Closer to Opening First Veterans Primary Clinic on Campus

Pasadena City College is getting closer to building a new Veterans Primary Care Clinic on campus, a plan that has been taking shape over the years with the collaboration between PCC’s Veteran Resource Center, the office of Congresswoman Judy Chu and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS).

A year after the PCC Board of Trustees gave the go-signal, the college’s fundraising committee has been able to raise $300,000 which is roughly what PCC needs to set up the clinic, says a report on the PCC Courier.

 

“There has been such an overwhelming support from the community,” the report quotes Patricia D’Orange Martin, coordinator at the Veterans Resource Center, as saying. “They were able to raise the $300,000 just by word of mouth.”

Earlier, Congresswoman Chu (D-CA 27^th District) said there has been ongoing discussion among Veterans Affairs and PCC officials about bringing the clinic into PCC, the first of its kind to be located in the San Gabriel Valley where more than 30,000 veterans reside.

Clinics for veterans in the Los Angeles area are mostly located in the downtown or Westwood area. The one closest to San Gabriel Valley and Pasadena is more than 13 miles away, the PCC Courier says.

In the PCC Courier report, Martin said the VRC would relocate next to the clinic to create a Veterans Village.

“Much like the Science Village, it’s important to have the clinic and Veterans Resource Center next to each other,” Martin said.

Once set up, the clinic could be called the “Veterans Center of the Foothills,” says a statement by Chu on her website.

“Veterans in the San Gabriel Valley have been forced to make long trips to health centers outside our region in order to obtain treatment for service-connected injuries and trauma,” Chu said. “For the first time ever, the VA will partner with a community college to place a veterans’ health center on its campus that will provide primary healthcare services, women’s healthcare services, mental health services, and wellness therapies to all our veterans.”