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Veterans Affairs Clinic Opens In Riverhead

RIVERHEAD, NY (WCBS 880) - A new clinic will make it much easier for veterans on the east end of Long Island to get medical care.

Suffolk County has more veterans than any other county in the state of New York.

For many the drive to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Northport could take as long as an hour and a half.

Now veterans on the east end have a VA clinic in Riverhead.

"We'll have about two or three buses out here, I believe, to get the veterans in to use this facility," says Vietnam veteran Clarence Simpson. "One of the things that we're doing as Vietnam Veterans of America [is] we are trying to get more and more people in east end that aren't using the Northport veterans facility to use this one."

WCBS 880's Sophia Hall With Veterans

This center is also perfect for new veterans.

"I think this is amazing that the VA put a clinic out here in Riverhead because this is a community that hasn't been reached before. Especially for the Iraq and Afghanistan vets right now, the ability to have something so close to them is going to be vital because they have jobs, they have school," says Sal Thomas, who jus returned from Iraq.

The new clinic is located at 300 Center Drive, Riverhead, NY 11901. It can be reached by phone at 631-754-7978.

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