The San Bruno VA clinic has a small, friendly medical staff that includes a part-time psychiatrist. The clinic provides primary care, physicals, on-site laboratory, cancer screenings, immunizations, and nutrition consults. In addition the clinic provides both outpatient mental health services and social work services. The San Bruno clinic also has a full-time member service representative who can assist veterans with enrollment into the VA health care system.

When a San Bruno patient requires specialty care that is not provided at the San Bruno clinic, the physicians will refer the patient to either San Francisco or Palo Alto VA Medical Centers, depending on the patient’s preference. If a veteran has an appointment at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, a daily shuttle service is available for transport from the San Bruno VA clinic. Veterans will also find plenty of free parking at the clinic.

Outreach to veterans has been a top priority for the clinic over the past year. Many of the staff have participated in community events, attended veteran service organization meetings, and sent out informational flyers and handouts to community agencies and businesses to educate the community about the new clinic. The clinic also has worked to build ties to the Peninsula Veterans Center in Redwood City, which specializes in counseling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The clinic’s current veteran patient population includes veterans from WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Bosnia as well as veterans who served during more peaceful times. The clinic also offers services to active duty service men and women who hold TRICARE membership, making enrollment into the VA health care system, once they are discharged, an easy transition.

Veterans who have community health care insurance are also encouraged to enroll in the VA health care system. Often veterans mistakenly believe that if they enroll in the VA system, they will have to give up their community doctors. In fact, the San Bruno VA physicians will work with the veteran’s community doctor to manage the patient’s care, allowing the veterans to have access to services and benefits provided by the VA. Patients often benefit from reduced medication expense ($8 for a 30-day supply).

Patients who receive primary care at the San Bruno clinic are able to enjoy the same top-notch VA health care services provided at San Francisco VA Medical Center, but in a small, convenient setting. Over the past 10 years, the VA health care system has undergone a major overhaul, transforming itself into one of the leading health care systems in the United States. In July a Business Week article titled "The Best Medical Care in the U.S." reviewed data gleaned from widely acclaimed and well-known independent sources such as the Rand Corporation. It was found that the VA’s quality of care outranked that of the rest of the nations’ hospitals across the board, including chronic care, lung disease, heart disease, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoarthritis, and preventative care. The VA was better at diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. The VA’s computerized prescription and medication system has a 99.997 percent accuracy rate—-compared with a 3-8 percent prescription error rate in the private sector—-which amounts to about 1000x fewer prescription errors at the VA. Additionally, patient satisfaction, both inpatient and outpatient were higher than in the private sector.

The San Bruno VA clinic will celebrate its one-year anniversary on October 25, 2006, from 10:00 a.m. to1:00 p.m. For information about the San Bruno VA clinic and VA benefits and enrollment, call (650) 553-8000.