Veterans worry clinic will leave Bonners Ferry

Leslie Levig appreciates the Spokane VA Medical Center sending a doctor and nurse to Bonners Ferry.

A World War II veteran, Levig recently heard the monthly service might end, which could mean driving to Spokane for his checkups. The 85-year-old owner of Levig Nursery is on a blood thinner for a heart condition.

“It’s important he get checked monthly,” said his wife, Jeannette.

The mobile clinic that serves 18 to 20 veterans in Bonners Ferry a month will not be discontinued, but faces changes, said Chuck Marsden, executive assistant to the director at the veterans’ hospital.

The hospital by June plans to open a veterans’ clinic in  Libby, Mont., and recently opened a clinic in Coeur d’Alene. The veterans’ hospital also would like contract with Boundary Community Hospital to provide the services currently provided by the VA’s mobile clinic, Marsden said.

“We have no intention of stopping (services) in Bonners Ferry,” he said. “We are just looking at a different arrangement with the hospital. Instead of seeing the mobile clinic, we would like to do some contract work with them.”

Boundary County veterans also would have the option to go to Libby or Coeur d’Alene, Marsden added.

Jim Wilson, veterans service officer for Boundary County, understands nothing is set in stone.

The mobile clinic from the veterans hospital has been coming to Bonners Ferry for at least 13 to 14 years.

“Before, they used to be a mobile bus, then they switched and come right to the hospital,” Wilson said.

He opposes eliminating the clinic in Bonners Ferry.

“It leaves a lot of my veterans not really able to go back and forth to Spokane, especially in the winter,” Wilson said.

Although Levig still drives, he doesn’t drive the 110 miles to Spokane anymore. He would need one of his children to take him to the hospital.

“It would be more inconvenient for them than for me,” he said.