By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The new Veterans Administration clinic is set to open Wednesday in the St. Lawrence Centre mall, serving an official estimate of 1,200 patients annually.

“It’s organized chaos in here today, getting ready for [Wednesday] at 8 a.m.,” said VA External Manager for Medical and Surgical Services Richard Kazel. “It’s beautiful, very functional and the rooms are quite large.”

The 12,000 square-foot clinic, run by Onsite OHS Inc., is in the mall’s west end, between J.C. Penney’s and the former Sears, with entrances inside the mall and outside.

One of the highlights is a telemedicine suite, Kazel said. That means patients can speak with a doctor in a second location, avoiding long trips to and from the actual VA hospital in Syracuse or elsewhere.

The suite includes a room for behavioral health and another for teleretinal eye screening.

“Telehealth has been very, very successful,” Kazel said.

He said the clinic is designed for what the VA calls “Patient-Aligned Care Teams,” Kazel said. That means a patient will get treatment from a group that includes a provider, a practitioner or physician assistant, nurse case manager, licensed practical nurse and support assistant.

“The patients are very well-managed, not providing episodic care, but holistic care,” Kazel said, adding that the clinic has a staff of 15 that is expected to eventually grow to 17.5.

The clinic will celebrate a grand opening Aug. 6 at 11 a.m.

Onsite OHS is in some legal hot water. At least 21 former workers are suing the company for allegedly underpaying them and scores of other medical workers in Afghanistan, pocketing government money intended for the company to pay its employees. That’s according to an Associated Press story reported in Yahoo! Finance on July 2, 2014. Read the article here.

Kazel said he was “a little bit” aware of the case, but didn’t seem troubled by it.

“They have a good reputation,” he said.