VA Secretary McDonough visits Phoenix VA Specialty Clinic
U.S. Secretary for Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough met with Phoenix VA Healthcare System leadership and Veterans during a visit to the Thunderbird VA Clinic in Phoenix, July 25.
“The goodness of the VA is not the buildings, it’s not the machines, it’s not Central Office, it’s not the Secretary’s office, it’s you,” said Secretary McDonough. “Our job is to provide every Veteran here in Arizona with the world-class care and benefits they deserve, and we will never settle for anything less.”
The newly renovated Phoenix VA Thunderbird clinic focuses solely on optometry and provides services to hundreds of Veterans in the region.
As a clinic dedicated to optometry, the Thunderbird clinic provides Veterans with vision exams, preventative vision testing and treatment, and prescription eyeglasses. The average wait times at the clinic are also relatively shorter than average with less than two weeks for existing patients and a month for new patients. Thunderbird is also affiliated with Midwestern University Arizona College of Optometry to train residents to practice the full scope of optometry within an integrated health care setting.
“The ocular disease residency program creates a patient care environment strong in clinical research and scholarship at the Phoenix VA which enhances the healthcare provided to our Veterans,” said Heather Spampinato, the Residency Program Director for Optometry at Thunderbird.
“We were glad to have Secretary McDonough here, to show off our Thunderbird clinic,” said Phoenix VA Medical Center Director Bryan Matthews.
“Our unique way of providing optometry services increases access and improves Veteran satisfaction. Secretary McDonough was very impressed with our staff and individually thanked them for the work they are doing on behalf of our Phoenix Veterans.”