Tester Visits New VA Clinic In Havre
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, DMont., visited the new Merril Lundman VA Outpatient Clinic in Havre last week ahead of its scheduled opening on Wednesday, Jan. 20. As ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and a senior member of the appropriations committee, Tester played a significant role in securing the facility and naming it after a Montana veteran.
“This clinic is a critical piece of infrastructure that will support veterans across North Central Montana and allow us to live up to the promises we’ve made to our fighting men and women,” Tester said. “By providing patient care based off a model that puts patient-driven, personalized care first, I have no doubt that it will be very successful. I’m proud to have been a part of getting this user-friendly facility off the ground and serving Havrearea veterans in a way they deserve.”
The new VA facility is 3,000 square feet and will serve more than 1,800 eligible veterans in the area with primary care, telehealth, laboratory, mental care services, as well as COVID-19 vaccinations. The facility is the second Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care facility in Montana designed around the Patient Aligned Care Team model, intended to provide veterans patient-driven, proactive, personalized and team-based care. The site is centrally located at the Holiday Village Mall at 1753 US Highway 2 NW, Suite 3, in Havre.
In 2009, Tester introduced legislation dedicating the clinic in honor of Merril Lundman, a Montana veteran and Havre-area resident. Tester’s bill was later included in S. 1963 and signed into law on May 5, 2010.
