Fayetteville VA, Womack join forces on new rehab clinic

The Fayetteville Rehabilitation Clinic, at 4101 Raeford Road, opened last month after five years of planning by Womack Army Medical Center and the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The 10,000-square-foot clinic is expected to serve about 62,000 patients a year once it is fully staffed, officials said. Eight physical therapists and 13 therapy assistants will work with state-of-the-art equipment in the clinic to help military personnel and veterans get back on their feet after an accident or an illness.

"It's things like physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy for some of our (patients who have suffered) strokes," said Elizabeth Goolsby, director of the VA hospital. "It's all coming together in one place to provide that dynamic of care."

Military leaders say it enhances continuity of care and should reduce wait times, especially for service members returning to civilian life.

"This bridges that gap because there is no different staff, different processes," said Col. Lance Raney, commander at Womack. "While I'm doing my time in the Army and I'm being treated, then if it's time to retire and transition, health care doesn't change."

"The patients are loving it. They're loving the accessibility. It's so much easier to get seen without having to go through the gates on post [Fort Bragg] and go through the showing the ID card and all of that," said Daniel Jayne, supervising physical therapist at the clinic.