Jean Mikle 

"It's finally here!" Patricia O'Kane exclaimed, to a round of raucous applause.

O'Kane, executive medical center director of the VA New Jersey Healthcare System, was hailing the grand opening ceremony of the long-awaited Veterans Affairs Clinic on Hooper Avenue, a 68,000-square-foot facility that began seeing patients late last month.

But on Monday, O'Kane, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, the VA's under secretary for health, and a raft of dignitaries, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and U.S. Sen.-elect Andy Kim, both D-N.J., and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., helped cut a bright red ribbon to officially mark the clinic's opening.

"Thank you for your patience," O'Kane added.

Manchester resident Bob Jacobs, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, was one of many vets on hand for the festivities. "I do use the VA services and I have for many years," Jacobs said, adding he was pleased to see a greatly expanded clinic that has replaced the James J. Howard clinic in Brick. "Ocean County is basically veterans central. It's a bit easier for me to get here than it was to go to Brick."

 

Dr. Elnahal, himself a New Jersey native, noted that approximately 60,000 veterans live in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined; there are about 300,000 veterans in New Jersey. Elnahal said that the new clinic is twice the size of the former Brick facility, and offers a complete women's health care center, with a separate entrance and an OB-GYN on staff, for the fastest-growing veterans population — female former service members.

In addition to general health care and mental health, the Toms River clinic offers specialty care in urology, cardiology, telehealth and an infusion center for veterans receiving chemotherapy, Elnahal said. He said other specialties will be added as the clinic's operations expand.

 

VA benefits have expanded in recent years under the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, signed into law in 2022 by President Joe Biden, which expanded VA healthcare to veterans exposed to Agent Orange, burn pits and other toxic chemicals, Elnahal said.

VA health care has also been extended to veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, the Iraq War or any other combat zone after 9/11; those veterans are eligible for health care without having to apply for VA benefits first.

"They deserve the absolute best," Elnahal said of veterans. "This will help them get there."

Smith said he began campaigning for a VA clinic to serve Ocean County since his first term in the House in 1982. The Howard clinic in Brick was approved in 1988, but the number of veterans using the facility made it difficult to park and to get appointments.

"The need so exceeded the capacity," Smith said. He said there is "true bipartisanship in trying to care for our veterans," noting that he had worked with Democrats to lobby for an expanded clinic in Ocean County.

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Booker said he was particularly proud of the women's clinic at the Toms River site, noting that female veterans also deserve to get the best health care the country can offer. He praised Smith for working tirelessly on veterans issues, and noted that both Democrats and Republicans can work hand in hand to help the nation's vets.

"I am excited," Booker said. "It is about time that we do more." He noted that Kim had listed helping New Jersey veterans as his top priority when he takes office in January.

Former Toms River Mayor Maurice B. "Mo" Hill Jr., who served 35 years in the U.S. Navy — retiring in 2005 as a rear admiral — lobbied strongly for the VA to be located in Toms River, working with former township Planner Dave Roberts.

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Smith said he he has introduced legislation to name the clinic after Toms River resident and World War II veteran Leonard "Bud" Lomell, a U.S. Army Ranger whose exploits on D-Day have been recounted in several books.

Historian Stephen Ambrose has described Lomell as the single individual, besides Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower, who was most responsible for the success of the June 6, 1944, invasion of France. Lomell's daughter, Renee, attended the clinic opening Monday.

 

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The new clinic includes 480 parking spaces, and is located at 1055 Hooper Avenue, adjacent to a new 121,000-square-foot, three-story building that will house Ocean County's Board of Social Services, as well as the county's Veterans Service Bureau.

The Department of Veterans Affairs selected the Toms River site as the location of the new clinic, approving a submission made by FD Stonewater, an Arlington, Virginia-based firm that is the township's designated redeveloper for the clinic site. The VA awarded a 20-year lease for the clinic to FDS Toms River, which built the facility; the total contract award for the new clinic is almost $61 million.  

Toms River, Lakewood and Brick had all submitted proposals to be the site of the new clinic. Land clearing at the site began in 2022, with an official groundbreaking in May that year.

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics for many years. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene.

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