Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review – October 3, 2025

6 October 3, 2025
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New VA Clinic is up and running in Antelope Valley
AEROTECH NEWS
by Dennis Anderson
special to Aerotech News
Whether it was a matter of one year’s construction, or many years in the making, the new VA Outpatient Clinic is open for business in the Antelope Valley, and ready to serve thousands of veterans who live in the area.
An “Open House” that was attended by nearly 700 veterans on Aug. 24, 2025, signaled that the new clinic was “ready for its close up.”
Two weeks later, on a weekday morning, the new atrium lobby was filled with patients awaiting appointments for veterans’ care, family health visits, women’s healthcare and a variety of new services that the facility is already offering, or will add soon.
The first woman veteran treat- ed at the clinic was Lyla Sharp, a 104-year-old Navy veteran. Sharp would have been 24 years old when World War II ended in 1945.
“She is an amazingly sharp woman,” said Alan Trinh, direc- tor of ambulatory care for VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare.
The new VA Clinic at 44439 17th Street West about a block north of the Antelope Valley Medical Center, more than dou- bled the size of the privately contracted Veterans Community Outpatient Clinic that operated for more than a decade on Av- enue I.
The site for the clinic was made so it would be close to AV Medical Center, a full-service hospital, and also to other medi- cal services located in the Avenue J corridor in Lancaster.
Where the now de-commis- sioned CBOC clinic had 10,000 square feet and an uneven set of services offered locally to veter- ans in the Antelope Valley, the new clinic is 22,000 square feet, a two-story fully renovated facility that is quickly filling with staff and patients.
“I think it is absolutely won- derful,” said Philip Roberts, a Vietnam War veteran of Navy service in the cohort the VA ab- solutely wants to provide care. “I had a great appointment. It was like a conversation, and I was listened to.”
Instead of a contract employ- ment staff, the clinic on 17th Street West is fully staffed by regular VA employees.
“The building is beautiful,
VA photographs
One of the optometry exam rooms in the new VA clinic in Lancaster, Calif.
The entryway to the new VA Clinic in Lancaster, Calif., on opening day.
U.S. Navy veteran Lyla Sharpe and her family at the opening ceremony of the VA Clinic in Lancaster, Calif.
new electrical and plumbing sys- tems, elevators, HVAC, lighting, and an expanded waiting area, along with the enclosure of the old courtyard and exterior walk- ways to create a central waiting area with a new roof.
Among the additional ser- vices are a dedicated veterans women’s health team, which has a separate entrance if the female veteran seeks additional privacy, Trinh said.
The clinic is also adding ser- vices not previously offered locally, including optometric and dental services, as well as expanded mental health care, and social work on site, plus support for reducing veteran homelessness.
Getting the new clinic opened followed years of complaints, by veterans and at the congressional level, that service levels needed by veterans in the Antelope Val- ley were not being met locally. Ward noted that it was a process of years of veterans making their voices heard, at town hall meet- ings and in local gatherings.
“We had to show the numbers are here,” Ward said.
“We finally got the outpatient clinic we deserve,” said Juan Blanco, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War Era. “Hopefully all the equipment is in soon, and ev- erything is ready by Christmas.”
Trinh said Greater Los Ange- les VA Healthcare studied data from surveys on services that veterans said they want to be able to obtain locally.
“The feedback from the vets was that they want audiology,
dental, and optometry,” Trinh said. “The Veteran population in the Antelope Valley is trend- ing toward ages in the late 50s, 60s, 70s.”
At a town hall at the Elks Lodge 1625 in Lancaster in Au- gust last year, hundreds of veter- ans turned out to hear the VA’s plans. More than a few veterans were skeptical.
“I will believe it when I see it,” one of them said.
“I would tell them, ‘I am not asking for you to take my word,’” Trinh said. “I am asking you to give me a chance to earn that trust. I think we are starting to earn it.”
The clinic is designed to ac- commodate a growing number of veteran patients. The old clinic served approximately 4,200 veterans per year but there are approximately 9,000 veterans in the Antelope Valley and enroll- ment is expected to grow.
Notable features include a double-sided, f loor-to-ceiling mural of Antelope Valley poppy blooms, two new audiology booths, and a new patient lift for Physical Medicine and Rehabili- tation Services.
Trinh said that cooperation from local elected officials, the city of Lancaster and others has been great, citing help from Councilwoman Lauren Hughes- Leslie, an Army veteran. He said he hopes that the clinic on 17th Street West will be easier to lo- cate soon.
“We are hoping the city coun- cil will vote to rename the street Veterans Way.”
and the service is excellent, and I think we need to add to it,” said Roberts, encountered at the clinic on a recent weekday.
Five care teams for family healthcare are operating at the clinic now, said Alan Trinh, di- rector for ambulatory health care in the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System. At the prior clinic there were four teams, but the staffing and retention was uneven.
Opening the clinic a month ahead of schedule represented the VA Healthcare System’s ef- forts to meet its commitments to veterans in the Antelope Valley. Most live more than 50 miles from the VA Ambulatory Clinic in Sepulveda, and 75 miles from the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles.
“The effort over time was the veterans to sign up here in the
Antelope Valley, and show the numbers of veterans who need care and will use a facility right here,” said Christine Ward, a longtime veterans legislative advocate.
Ward assisted former Con- gressman Mike Garcia, a Navy fighter pilot, and the 25th Con- gressional District team worked continuously to lobby to get the clinic built.
The property was originally built in 1986 and previously housed a suite of medical of- fices. It underwent an extensive demolition and remodel to meet VA’s design and construction standards, according to VA public information specialist Jennifer Amo.
Demolition began on Aug. 26, 2024, and the new clinic officially opened on Aug. 27, 2025, one year later. The building received