POCATELLO — A standing-room only crowd attended the grand opening celebration of the Pocatello Veterans Affairs Clinic’s new facility on Wednesday.

The new facility is located at the Portneuf Health Trust Bannock Campus at 500 S. 11th Ave. It is about three times larger than the old building at 444 Hospital Way, where the clinic had been housed for the past 15 years.

“This has been a work in progress for many years, and I’m so glad it’s finally here,” said Shella Stovall, the director of the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. “The opening of this outstanding facility just reaffirms our commitment to our veterans.”

The ceremony on Wednesday opened with an invocation from Steve Yadon, retired chaplain at the Idaho State Veterans Home, followed by a presentation of colors by the Pocatello Veterans Honor Guard. Navy veteran David Lansbury performed the National Anthem and Vietnam veteran Douglas “Luke” Brock Alexander led the Pledge of Allegiance.

After speeches from Stovall, Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad, Army veteran Ricky Poisel and Karen Gribbin, MD, the chief of staff of the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in front of the new building’s entrance.

Then, those in attendance got to tour the new facility, which is three times larger than the building at 444 Hospital Way and will be able to serve up to 1,000 more Southeast Idaho veterans.

Plus, the new facility is the first in the Intermountain West to use the Patient Aligned Care Team, or PACT, concept.

The PACT model focuses on providing personalized, team-based health care for veterans. Each patient at the facility will be assigned to a small team consisting of a care provider, a registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse and a scheduling consultant.

The whole purpose behind the PACT concept is to provide more efficient and more streamlined health care to veterans while simultaneously ensuring that patients always have a familiar face when they visit the clinic for treatment.

The new facility and its PACT model has already been serving veterans since staff and medical personal relocated late last month. Poisel, who is one of these patients, told the crowd in attendance that the new facility is vital to accommodate the growth in the number of veterans in Southeast Idaho.

“The old clinic had reached its growing potential and was starting to burst at the seams,” said Poisel, who served in the U.S. Army from 1985 to 1991. “The new clinic has plenty of room to grow and expand to the changing needs of area veterans.”

Poisel also noted that with the new facility there would be fewer trips to Salt Lake City for treatment and more parking. These comments drew cheers from the other veterans and their families in attendance at the ceremony on Wednesday.

Currently, the clinic has about 5,700 enrolled patients, and the expanded facility will have a new audiology team, new group therapy rooms and additional telehealth services, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Pocatello VA Clinic provides a variety of health care services to Southeast Idaho’s veterans, including primary care, health screenings, pharmaceutical services, social work, nutrition assistance and mental health counseling.