JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas - A partnership between the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is allowing veterans to receive dental care at the Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Medical Clinic.
The satellite VA dental clinic, which occupies a suite of rooms on the second floor of the 359th Medical Group facility on 3rd Street West, opened Nov. 1 and served more than 400 VA dental enrollees by the end of the year.
“This is groundbreaking for the 59th Medical Wing,” said Col. Kristen Beals, 359th MDG commander. “It’s a template for other bases and their medical facilities. We want to use this partnership with the VA as an example to spark interest at other clinics.”
One of the advantages of the satellite clinic is accessibility to eligible veterans who live closer to JBSA-Randolph than to the main VA dental clinic on Datapoint Drive in the medical center area, said Maj. (Dr.) Sarah Wheeler, 359th Aerospace-Medicine Squadron Dental Flight commander.
“This clinic gives the VA the ability to see more patients and improve their access to care,” she said.
The VA clinic is contiguous to the 359th MDG’s dental clinic, which serves an active-duty population but also supports the VA clinic by providing patient treatment items – restorative materials, infection control items and other supplies – as well as sterilization and processing of all instruments, Wheeler said.
“The VA has been supplying any additional specific patient care items and lab support for VA patients,” she said.
One of the reasons the JBSA-Randolph clinic was an ideal location for the partnership was the availability of space, Wheeler said.
“The Randolph dental clinic was a squadron until 2013,” she said. “The transition from squadron to flight resulted in a decrease in the number of dentists in the clinic, leaving available space and equipment.”
The VA clinic consists of a waiting room, five dental treatment rooms and rooms dedicated to dental instruments, a wheelchair-accessible panoramic X-ray machine and computer equipment.
The staff, which is employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, is led by one dentist, Dr. Jake Williams, and also includes two dental assistants, one hygienist and one receptionist who also schedules appointments. Due to the success of the partnership, the VA is planning to add another dentist and hygienist.
“The purpose of our clinic is to better serve veterans in the area,” Williams said. “It’s working out well.”
The clinic provides general dentistry services such as cleanings, fillings, implants, X-rays and dentures, but not orthodontics or oral surgery.
Setting up the clinic posed a few challenges, including the installation of a separate computer system and providing base access to veterans seeking dental services, said Maj. Stuart Fillmore, 359th MDG administrator. But the process has been facilitated with the cooperation of the 502nd Security and Readiness Group, including the JBSA-Randolph Visitor Control Center and 502nd Security Forces Squadron.
“We could not have done this without them,” Beals said.
In addition to providing veterans with more access to dental services, the VA clinic offers other advantages.
“The DOD and VA are partnering on space, a new electronic medical record in the future and shared purchasing to better serve the veterans and active-duty service members, all with the goal to better use taxpayer resources,” Wheeler said.
A patient comment board reveals the clinic has received accolades from patients.
“We’ve had nothing but enthusiastic, positive remarks from our veteran patients,” she said. “They are happy to be seen closer to home and at a clinic on a military installation.”
The VA dental clinic’s hours of operation are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday; the appointment line number is 652-1707.