ABQ Times

Recent plans to close four VA clinics in New Mexico have been scrapped, thanks to a bipartisan effort in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year debated closing a number of VA clinics across the country, including those in Espanola, Gallup, Las Vegas, and Raton, according to KRQE. 

"I have been advocating since I first saw that report recommending closures, I have been advocating that we stop it," Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-Santa Fe) said. "I was really happy to hear that this was going to happen. Those veterans have expressed to me how much those clinics mean to their life."

The VA serves a number of purposes; the organization offers assistance for educational opportunities, rehabilitation services, compensation payments for disabilities or death related to military service, home loan guarantees, pensions, and burials. It also offers health care services, including nursing homes, clinics, and medical care. 

A drop in enrollment at the community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) was one of the reasons behind the VA's proposal to close them. The end of the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission process allowed the clinics to remain open and operational, KRQE reported. 

"That commission will not be seeded, will not be moving forward," Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said. "Consequently, those four CBOCs are looking very well into the future, which I think it’s a huge, big deal for veterans in rural New Mexico."

The cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services said in March that more than 34,000 enrolled veterans in the state live in rural areas where the closures were going to occur. Keeping the clinics open will provide resources to veterans in those areas for help with mental health issues and suicide prevention, according to KRQE.