Ernst makes north-central Iowa stops this week, including Mason City VA Outpatient Clinic

MASON CITY — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst made several stops in north-central Iowa this week, including in Mason City at the new Veterans Administration outpatient clinic.

Ernst tells KGLO News that she’s glad to see a quality facility that offers primary care and specialty health services for veterans. “We want to ensure that veterans have a high-level quality care, and we want to make sure the employees as well have a great place to work every single day. I think it is wonderful and it’s really great to see the facility completed. It’s been a long time coming and I know our veterans love it.”

Ernst says one of the bills she worked on after first being elected to the US Senate was ensuring veterans have quality access to healthcare services by expanding access to telehealth services. “We really wanted our veterans to have access to telehealth. It’s a path I’ve been on for a very long time.  I think it enables a lot of our veterans to receive care, whether it’s in their home or at a facility like this. They are able to connect to specialists that might be in another state or far, far away. It’s something that is a great trend for America and I hope it’s here to stay.”

Ernst says it’s important to have a quality healthcare facility to serve male and female veterans.  “I have worked on this issue as well being a woman veteran. I think it is important that we recognize more and more women are engaging in military service, and we need to have that specialized care for our women veterans as well once they’ve exited the military. There are certain things that women need to have just as an overall healthy regime, so we want to make sure we have those specialists, those providers available and trained to work with our women veterans.”

The new Mason City VA clinic opened last fall and is one of five satellite community-based outpatient clinics within the Des Moines Veterans Administration region.