Veteran Center moving from Pocatello to Idaho Falls

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Local veterans will soon have a new location for their counseling services.

The US Veterans Center in Eastern Idaho is moving from the Gate City to a new facility in Idaho Falls. Their current location has been helping servicemen and women living in and around Pocatello since 1998.

Veteran Outreach Specialist Cody De Los Reyes says the new facility will be more accessible to veterans in their coverage area.

"We see veterans all the way from Salmon to Malad to Twin Falls to Jackson Hole," De Los Reyes said. "So, Idaho Falls is more centrally located, and it'll help us out that way."

The new planned site is a 3,000-foot space on the third floor of the Joseph A. Clark Building on River Walk Drive. They currently provide veterans and their families the opportunity for mental health counseling.

"We do readjustment counseling for combat veterans and their families," De Los Reyes said. "We also deal with veterans who suffered from military sexual trauma, along with some other eligibility criteria that we see veterans here. Strictly counseling is what we do here."

The center hopes to start veteran groups that specialize in activities such as running and fishing.

De Los Reyes says these groups would allow them to expand past basic counseling. He also believes in the veterans he helps and says they have been resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Veterans are used to being in hardship, so I think in this COVID pandemic, most of them have been taking it pretty well," De Los Reyes said. "The ones that that have been struggling through it definitely find help through the VA. But they have a little bit more resolve that helps get them through it."

The new facility is expected to be finished by summer 2021.