TOMS RIVER – The Veterans Administration clinic in Toms River is set to have a grand opening soon, while the one in Brick closes its doors.
The Toms River clinic’s official address is 1051 Hooper Avenue. There’s an entrance to the facility from Hooper and another entrance on Caudina Avenue, which is the back road past two banks that leads to the Seacourt Pavilion.
“Patient Day One” of this building will be October 22, said Xiomara Johnson, a Navy veteran who serves as Deputy Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place in November. That exact date will be announced in the future, and is likely to have veterans, politicians, and other stakeholders invited.
“The opening of the Toms River Clinic marks a significant milestone in our mission to provide world-class healthcare to our veterans in Ocean County and beyond. This new facility allows us to expand access to care, improve services and better meet the needs of our veteran community. We are excited to welcome them to this state-of-the-art clinic,” said Patricia O’Kane, Executive Medical Center Director.
The current facility in our area is the James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic, located at 970 Route 70 in Brick. Veterans have long said that this property doesn’t have enough parking, and that it’s not large enough to serve the significant number of local vets.
This building will permanently close its doors on Monday, October 21. Johnson said that any appointments scheduled after October 21 will automatically be transferred to the Toms River Clinic. Veterans will receive new appointment cards with updated information indicating their new location at the Toms River facility.
“This new addition to the VA New Jersey Healthcare System reflects our ongoing commitment to delivering enhanced healthcare services to veterans across Ocean County and surrounding areas. We look forward to welcoming our veterans and ensuring they receive the highest level of care in this expanded, modern facility,” she said.
The new building will be about twice the size as the one in Brick, measuring 68,000 square feet. It will neighbor county social services as well. There is also a bus stop and other amenities nearby.
Officials at the groundbreaking said that the building will enhance services currently provided, and will also add more. Some of the specialties noted during the presentation was primary care, mental health, dental, podiatry, and women’s health, which is the fastest growing department.
On the new building, women’s health has its own entrance. There’s also an entrance for ambulance pick-up. A road around the outskirts of the property could one day link to the social services buildings nearby.
The same Toms River site was previously selected by the VA in 2019, but the prospective developer at that time declined the lease in early 2020. This caused the VA to restart the site selection process. Toms River, Brick, and Manchester officials made offers, but the VA came back to this site again. There was also some red tape that slowed down the construction of this much-anticipated building.
