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El Paso VA says operations are steady; community outreach events continue while some approvals remain pending
Summary
Interim director Mark Riello told the Veterans Advisory Council the El Paso VA Healthcare System is operating normally, outlined upcoming outreach events, and described clinic expansions while noting that approvals for some community presentations after March are pending at the national level.
Mark Riello, interim director of the El Paso VA Healthcare System, told the El Paso Veterans Advisory Council that operations at the local VA are “normal” and that the system remains “full steam ahead” on clinical services and planned outreach.
Riello said staff have obtained event approvals through March but that requests for community presentations after March still require clearance from national offices. “What is taking a little bit longer is if, say, my program manager or myself or any of my staff are going out to the community to give a talk. Those are the things right now that I have to get approval from all the way to the top,” Riello said. He added that clinical face-to-face care in the community is being approved more quickly than nonclinical presentations.
The interim director listed scheduled and planned outreach events: a “Women Pact Act VA Registration Event” on March 15 at the Beast Recreation Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; an eligibility outreach activity on Feb. 28 at the Nolan Richardson Recreation Center from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; and a March 1 outreach in Las Cruces at 1615 North Mesquite Street from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Riello also said the El Paso VA will participate in the Borderplex Family Caregivers Expo in March, a multi‑day community event with benefits and eligibility staff present.
On access to care and clinical capacity, Riello emphasized the Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner program, which places licensed pharmacists in an expanded treatment role for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking cessation. “If our veteran calls us, have openings every single day. If our veteran calls (915) 564-6100, press option 2. They can get in with one of our CPPs probably in the next 10 minutes,” Riello said.
Riello provided construction and expansion updates: steel work for a new Health Care Center adjacent to William Beaumont is expected to start in about a month, and the project remains on track for an opening “closer to the beginning of ’29,” he said. He also described continued planning for a women’s health clinic and an urgent care expansion on the city’s East Side and a community‑based outpatient clinic planned for Horizon City. He said there has been no notification that funding for those projects has changed.
Council members raised concerns about hospice access and processing time for hospice referrals. Riello said he had heard similar concerns and asked members to follow up with him. He urged veterans and caregivers to contact the VA directly for gaps in hospice or other services and to report issues so the VA can investigate.
Riello closed by thanking the community for school‑led donations to inpatient veterans and invited council members and the public to use the published outreach dates to connect veterans with eligibility staff.
Contact information and event registration links were provided during the meeting; veterans seeking quick access to the Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner program were directed to call (915) 564-6100 and press option 2.
