Construction on the 24,000-square-foot permanent Veterans Affairs clinic in Lake Charles is “65 percent complete,” Lynn Rogers, facility planner, said before a group of local officials toured the property Wednesday.

Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach, along with members of the Mayor’s Armed Forces Commission and the VA, toured the clinic, at 3601 Gerstner Memorial Drive. Valerie Russell, assistant director of activation for the Alexandria VA Health Care System, said the Aug. 28 opening date remains on schedule. The clinic broke ground last June.

The VA will get the facility’s keys from the contractor July 14. Crews will then install telephone and data lines, with staff moving into the building in late August. A dedication and open house is set for Oct. 20.

Roach said veterans have been awaiting the clinic “for too many years.”

“It’s taken longer than we had hoped,” he said. “I think everybody is excited about the opening of the clinic and patients getting the services that many of our men and women in our area need.”

Jim Jackson, chairman of the Mayor’s Armed Forces Commission, said plenty of progress has been made in offering high-quality care to the tens of thousands of veterans in Southwest Louisiana.

“It has come a long way,” he said.

The clinic will provide mental health, nutrition, pharmacy, dental, eye care, hearing aid services, X-ray imaging, physical therapy, prosthetics and other services.

Russell said officials want to recruit at least 50 volunteers to help out once the clinic opens. Interviews are scheduled 9:30 a.m.-noon today at the interim clinic, 814 W. McNeese St. Another round of interviews will be May 25.

The interim clinic provides care for nearly 1,600 veterans. Roughly 1,100 more patients will be served once the third provider team is added at the interim clinic. The team includes a doctor and a licensed practical nurse.