For area veterans, it's always been pretty easy to find out whether they had diabetes, high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol. All they had to do was show up at one of the health screenings held weekly in Modesto. But getting treatment for these conditions hasn't been so easy. Most of Stanislaus County's estimated 40,000 veterans had to travel to clinics and hospitals in Livermore or Palo Alto.

For World War II vets, many of whom no longer drive, getting there meant begging or borrowing rides from friends, neighbors or the county veterans service office.

All that should end by late February or early March when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs opens a clinic at the former Stanislaus Medical Center on Scenic Drive. The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the agreement at its meeting today.

"It's great. It will be a lot better for most of the veterans," said Raul Ortega, commander of the American G.I. Forum of Modesto.

"Getting to Livermore was very stressful for the veterans and their families. Even if they were able to take the shuttle, it would take all day because there were always a lot of veterans who needed to go," Ortega said.

"This is a terrific deal for the veterans," agreed Larry Dick, who has been chairman and vice chairman of the state American Legion's Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Committee.

It's also a terrific deal for Dick, 83, who started the health screening program for veterans in Stanislaus County 10 years ago and has been running it ever since. "This means I'm through."

The clinic will benefit Stanislaus County veterans as well as those who live in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, who have to travel even farther for their health care.

"I think it's an excellent idea," said Ed Schoonover, American Legion district commander for an area that includes Stanislaus, Merced, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties.

In an effort to improve medical services, Veterans Affairs is opening clinics throughout the valley. It started a clinic in San Joaquin County in August and expects to open one in Merced this spring.

In Modesto, the VA wants to lease a 3,000-square-foot building that used to be occupied by the county's internal medicine clinic. The clinic would be staffed by a physician, nurse practitioner, nurses, psychologist and part-time psychiatrist, said Carolyn Hebenstreich, supervisor of the county's veterans service office.

Having convenient medical care for veterans could save the county some money. Because it was so difficult to get to Livermore and Palo Alto, some veterans received health care under a county-funded program for medically indigent adults, said Bev Finley, director of the county's Health Services Agency. The Board of Supervisors meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today at the county administration building, 1100 H St., Modesto.

Reprinted by permission of Modesto Bee.