NEWS STORY – Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, 2002 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030  www.houston.va.gov or

For more information, contact Communications Office, 713-794-7349

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 21, 2012

VA Outpatient Clinics Open on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012

Patient care services including scheduled clinic appointments, hospitalizations, surgeries, and the Emergency Room will continue without interruption.

HOUSTON – All Veteran health care services will still be available on December 24, 2012 at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Lufkin, Richmond, Lake Jackson, Galveston and Texas City.

Patient care services including scheduled clinic appointments, hospitalizations, surgeries, and the Emergency Room will continue without interruption on December 24, 2012 to ensure Veterans have timely access to health care.

This decision was made because approximately 1,500 patients are scheduled that day for outpatient visits.

Veterans are strongly encouraged to keep their appointments.  

Veterans with questions or health care concerns are advised to call the VA Network Telecare Center at (713) 794-8985 or toll-free 1 (800) 639-5137. Registered nurses, pharmacists, and administrative clerks at the VA Network Telecare Center are ready to answer Veteran health care questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The VA Network Telecare Center is not for life-threatening emergencies. Veterans with life-threatening emergencies should immediately call 911.

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Awarded re-designation for Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services in 2008, the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center serves as the primary health care provider for almost 130,000 Veterans in southeast Texas. VA recently ranked the MEDVAMC as the most complex of its 141 medical facilities in terms of patient population, clinical services complexity, intensive care unit and operative complexity, and education and research. Veterans from around the country are referred to the MEDVAMC for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases. The MEDVAMC is home to a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic; Network Polytrauma Center; an award-winning Cardiac and General Surgery Program; Liver Transplant Center; VA Epilepsy and Cancer Centers of Excellence; VA Substance Abuse Disorder Quality Enhancement Research Initiative; Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence; VA Rehabilitation Research of Excellence focusing on mild to moderate traumatic brain injury; Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center; and one of the VA’s six Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers. Including the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Galveston, Houston, Lufkin, Richmond, and Texas City, MEDVAMC outpatient clinics logged almost 1.2 million outpatient visits in fiscal year 2012. For the latest news releases and information about the MEDVAMC, visit www.houston.va.gov.