Lakeland’s veteran’s clinic will begin moving into its new building off Lakeland Highlands Road next month.
The new Lakeland VA Administration building will consolidate the area’s primary care and mental health facilities into an approximately 120,000-square-foot building. It’s about five times larger than their current South Pipkin Road facility.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a contract on Jan. 29, 2021, to PH LLC, doing business as The Molasky Group of Cos. Inc., to begin construction of the building. It was designed by Tennessee-based Gresham Smith before a groundbreaking was held in April 2021.
The new building will have about 100,000 square feet of usable space, Osting said, and its construction cost will end up about $57 million. The total cost of medical equipment, given the expansion of departments, will come closer to $100 million or more.
The larger building will allow for the hiring of additional medical professionals and the expansion of locally available healthcare services for veterans. Osting said she anticipates the clinic’s current staff of 133 employees to nearly double to 235 to help serve approximately 12,000 patients who visit the Lakeland clinic each year.
Osting said the Lakeland clinic will offer audiology, podiatry, home oxygen services, and a dispensing pharmacy to provide medications for veterans. It will expand its medical lab diagnostic services from ultrasounds and X-ray services to include CT scans and MRIs.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new VA clinic is scheduled for July 26.