The grand opening of a prosthetic and amputee support clinic was held at the VA Oceanside Clinic on Wednesday.
Veterans and Department of Defense beneficiaries will receive treatment at the facility on Rancho del Oro Drive. That includes active duty service members, retirees and family members.
State-of-the-art prosthetic arms and legs can be fabricated from start to finish at the full-service lab, said a clinic representative.
"Already seen 50 patients in the last few weeks through four different days that he was here seeing them," said Ronald Boling, the Deputy Director for San Diego Single Service Market. "All those Veterans maybe would have had to make a longer trip."
The clinic representative said the prosthetics lab and the clinic are a Joint Incentive Fund (JIF) project for the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) and Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD).
A 1,330 square feet lab and clinic offering comprehensive prosthetic care was unveiled at the grand opening.
Prosthetic services will be available in Oceanside that were previously only available for veterans in La Jolla, said the clinic representative.
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Now, North County veterans can access important prosthetics and items such as canes, crutches, walkers and wheelchairs, with much greater convenience.
About 7,000 veterans need prosthetic or amputee care in north San Diego County, according to the VA's estimates.
New artificial limbs, repairs, new custom orthotic braces, diabetic shoe inserts and other bracing needs are all included.
The VA Prosthetics Service will manage the new clinic located south of State Route 76 and east of Interstate 5.
At first, the VA and DoD will separately provide care for their respective patients. Later, the clinic plans to merge their services.
