EAST POINT, Ga.,None — As Fort McPherson prepares to close next month, 10 acres of the sprawling post will be transformed to help treat the soaring numbers of veterans in metro Atlanta and the southeast.
The Veterans Administration is spending $40 million to renovate five buildings at the aging military compound in East Point. The largest building, which once served as a health clinic for troops, will become an outpatient clinic for veterans.
Channel 2's Tom Regan went on a tour with VA officials. They explained that the outpatient clinic will offer a variety of services to veterans including mental health, dental, lab audiology and radiology services.
Four brick buildings nearby will serve homeless veterans and include a 40-bed shelter and treatment for substance abuse.
"We are looking forward to this. We really need it. The medical center at Clairmont Road is bursting at the seams," said VA Medical Center representative Anne Huguenin.
Regan visited the facility in Decatur to get reaction from veterans about the expansion at Fort McPherson.
"It's going to help the community. It's going to help the veterans -- soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines," said retired Army Lt. Col Nate Perkins.
The new VA clinic at Fort McPherson is set to open in August of next year.
WSBTV
