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VA closes clinics in Gustav’s path

Eight veterans medical care facilities have temporarily been closed and some high-risk patients moved in response to Hurricane Gustav’s roaring sweep through Gulf states.

Medical clinics in downtown New Orleans, and in Slidell, St. John Parish, Houma, Lafayette and Jennings, La., and a medical clinic in Beaumont, Texas, were closed in advance of the hurricane’s Monday arrival, as was a dental clinic in Mandeville, La.

The Lafayette and Jennings clinics were expected to remain closed Wednesday, according to a statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

New Orleans staff were transferred to Baton Rouge to expand medical services available at that clinic, the VA statement said.

Hospitalized patients throughout the region were moved out of the storm’s path, and so were stockpiles of medical supplies.

VA officials said that other medical centers and clinics in the region were open and ready to absorb the load of additional patients. Veterans with urgent care needs were being advised to seek treatment, but those with routine appointments at the temporarily closed clinics were advised to wait, if they could, for the clinics to reopen to have their appointment rescheduled.

VA Secretary James Peake said veterans needing emergency care “should consider going to the nearest civilian facility if they would risk their health by traveling to a VA hospital or clinic.”

The VA statement also said that veterans “who need prescription refills are advised to call in their requests, rather than travel to a VA health care facility.”