DANVILLE, Va. – You wouldn't know it by looking at the outside, but the Danville Veterans Affairs clinic has been expanded by more than 5,000 square feet.
"We just added 5,400 square feet, which has mental health, telehealth and administrative assistants," said Brenda Blackstock, with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
While the expansion of the building is complete, the treatment provided there is still expanding.
"We will be adding two licensed clinical social workers. We will be having a sixth PACT team (Patient Aligned Care Team) on this side and we're waiting to hire another two-day-a-week PACT team," Blackstock explained.
Those teams include a primary care provider, a registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse and an administrative assistant.
One veteran who had never been to the Danville VA clinic before liked what he saw.
"This place here is really nice. I'm thinking about changing and coming here," he said.
He lives in Halifax County and currently goes to Richmond for treatment.
He recently received a flyer in the mail about the expansion, so he decided to come check out what the clinic has to offer.
Although the thought of not having to drive to Richmond for treatment is exciting, he's not ready to make up his mind just yet.
"I've gotten used to the doctors and everything up there," he said.
Dr. Scott Wise, the president of the company with which the Salem VA contracts to operate the Danville clinic, said one of the best parts about the expansion is the additional behavioral health services that are now provided.
"There's always been a need for behavioral health, but we certainly saw an uptick in the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans coming back," said Wise.
Along with expanded services, the clinic's floors were redone, walls were painted and more space was created for storage.