WASHINGTON — A new outpatient clinic for veterans will open in Leeward O'ahu by 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced yesterday.

"This will definitely help," said Will Ford, senior outreach case manager for U.S. Vets, Hawaii, a nonprofit organization that offers programs, housing and training to hundreds of veterans on O'ahu. "I think anything the Veterans Administration has that will assist these vets is good."

Ford works every day with veterans who have severe mental and physical problems.

"There are a lot of disabled vets that need a level of care that we can't offer because we're more of a back-to-work program, and we don't have the care specialists and registered nurses you need to accommodate these people."

Ford said he had been unaware of the planned clinic but said it couldn't come at a better time. The economic crisis has increased the potential for more veterans becoming homeless, he said. And he expects a surge in the number of service men and women returning from overseas wars who will need mental and physical health treatment.

"We're seeing a steady increase of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological traumas and schizophrenia in the ones who are coming back already," he said. "And then if they have additional physical or amputee problems, they are going to need a lot more care and counseling.

Fred Dodge, a veteran, retired physician and longtime resident of the Wai'anae Coast, had no word of the new clinic. But, he said, "I'm sure there is a need for it. I would think this coast can always use health-related care for those who need it. There are a lot of problems."

The clinic is the only Hawai'i clinic among 31 that the VA plans to open in the next two years. Hawai'i already has a larger care facility for veterans on the campus of Tripler Army Medical Center and VA outpatient clinics in Hilo and Kailua, Kona on the Big Island, Kahului, Maui, and Lihu'e, Kaua'i.

"These new clinics will bring VA's top-notch care closer to the veterans who have earned it," said VA Secretary James B. Peake.

Sen. Dan Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, has pushed for the new clinic since last year to care for veterans in Leeward O'ahu who now have to come to Honolulu for primary treatment.

A new clinic could cut the patient load at other VA facilities and allow veterans to have quicker care, Akaka said in a letter to the VA.

"The needs of our veterans on Leeward O'ahu are growing over time," said Akaka yesterday. "This new clinic will provide them with the basic services they need and have earned through their service."

Dr. Michael Kussman, VA undersecretary for health, said the clinics foster better medicine.

"It makes preventative care easier for patents, helps healthcare professionals have closer relationships with their patients and permits easier follow-ups for patients with chronic health problems," he said.