VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System opens new VetExpress Service for quick medical care

Colorado Springs, Colo.– VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (VA ECHCS) will open the Veteran Express at its PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom VA Clinic in Colorado Springs on April 17 at 8 a.m.

Veterans Express is not an Urgent Care but an extension of the Primary Care Department Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) Teams. The purpose of Veterans Express is to provide veterans, who are eligible for care at the VA ECHCS to receive same-day, walk-in Primary Care services when their PACT Team provider does not have access to see them, they are not assigned to a PACT Team, or the veteran cannot wait for the next open PACT provider
appointment.

“This is an exciting new component of care we here at VA Eastern Colorado are ready to provide to our veterans,” said Paul Roberts, VA ECHCS acting director. “As a military retiree myself, I understand that there exists a space where we can’t wait some days, and we need care as soon as possible. That is what Vet Express will give veterans.”

Veterans Express will be open weekdays, except for holidays, with check-in on the second floor, when it will be staffed with at least one registered nurse and one primary care provider who will be assigned to those duties.
Any veteran found to have a life-threating or medical emergency in Veterans Express will be transferred as quickly as possible to the nearest Emergency Department (VA or non-VA based on location of Veterans Express) for definitive care.

With the implementation of Vet Express, veterans will have even more specialized, quality care that can help when dealing with a number of issues that may not necessarily rise to the level of a medical emergency, but that can still give veterans problems if they have concerns.

For more information, please contact Terri Clinton, Acting Public Affairs Officer, VHAECHPAO@va.gov .

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