Courtesy / U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Features include more primary care and mental health rooms, improved efficiency and patient flow, virtual care rooms and a conference room for veterans.
Updated: May 7, 2024
New VA clinic in Presque Isle opens with more space, services for veterans
Courtesy / U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
The Presque Isle clinic is 50% larger than the Caribou clinic it replaces.
A Department of Veterans Affairs clinic recently opened in Presque Isle that’s 50% larger than the former clinic 15 miles away.
The Presque Isle clinic has more than 8,000 square feet at 732 Main St., and replaces the clinic at 163 Van Buren Road, Caribou.
The larger space provides more rooms for primary care and mental health services, allowing greater efficiency for staff and improved patient flow. Lab services are accessible from lobby areas.
The new clinic also has two designated virtual care rooms and a conference room for veterans to virtually connect to specialists and health-related groups. In addition, all exam rooms within the clinic have virtual care capabilities.
VA Maine dedicated the new clinic in a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month. Members of Maine’s congressional delegation and Maine National Guard Brigadier General Diane Dunn provided remarks. The Loring Job Corps Honor Guard and the Presque Isle Middle School Jazz Band both took part in the ceremony.
“A half-century ago, a marine or soldier in Madawaska would have to drive nearly 10 hours round-trip to Augusta to access VA health care,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District.
Seven Aroostook County veterans banded together to lead the creation of the first-ever VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Caribou in 1987.
“Since then, generations of Maine veterans have stood up to defend and improve rural VA health care services,” said Golden, a former U.S. Marine.
Courtesy / Office of Jared Golden
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, second from left, and U.S. Sen. Angus King, second from right, cut the ribbon to open the new VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Presque Isle last month. They were joined by Ian Barbrick, left, VA Maine project manager; Tracye Davis, medical center director of VA Maine Healthcare System, center; and Diann Dee-Dobson, nurse manager of the Presque Isle CBOC.
This clinic will continue the legacy of VA community-based care established by the Caribou VA Clinic, which was the first such VA clinic in the nation.
A plaque was presented during the ceremony and will be hung at the Presque Isle clinic. The plaque is dedicated to the Aroostook County veterans who petitioned to open the Caribou clinic.
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