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Robert Seltzer: Vets say VA plan is only as real as the funding
Web Posted: 08/24/2007 04:14 PM CDT
The veterans have seen the plan.Now they want to see the money.
This is the plan: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs released the results of a comprehensive study that called for the expansion of the VA outpatient clinic in Harlingen.
And this is the money: Well, there is no money, not yet, and the lack of funding rankles the veterans.
The plan is ambitious — expanding the clinic into a health care center, a facility that would grow from 11,700 to 158,000 square feet by the end of 2010.
The funding for the center, to be located on the Harlingen campus of the UT Health Science Center, is equally ambitious — $110 million, to be allocated in three phases.
Unless Congress approves the money, however, the plan is just that, a plan, an architectural sketch without the bricks and mortar to turn the doodlings into reality.
The veterans have traveled this path before, following a trail of hope and optimism, only to wind up on a road that leads to the same dashed hopes.
So, yes, they have seen the plan, but the plan is not enough.
"Their attitude is 'Show me the money,'" Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said in a telephone interview. "I think that's the right response."
The senator requested the study, which was conducted by a Virginia company — Booz Allen Hamilton. The firm set out to determine if South Texas needs its own veterans hospital. Approximately 115,000 veterans live in the 60-county area south of San Antonio, and they did not need a study to come up with the answer: They need a hospital, period.
For most people, a visit to the doctor is a casual trip. Not for veterans in South Texas. The nearest veterans hospital is Audie Murphy in San Antonio — for many, a 600-mile round trip that turns what should be a short drive into a logistical nightmare.
The veterans have to make the appointment weeks or months in advance, and because many are disabled, they make the journey in vans provided by veterans service groups. And, as they pass each mile marker, they confront a painful irony. The trips exacerbate the aches and pains the veterans are so desperate to relieve.
"We've had quite enough reports," Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said in a statement. "Veterans in the South Texas area know what is needed; time for reports has ended and time for action is needed."
Salvador Salinas, director of the veterans office in Cameron County, agreed.
"The main issue is that the money hasn't been allocated yet," Salinas said. "Where will the money come from? Government officials say they'll get it. But you know how Congress is. If the money comes, it would be a miracle."
Hutchison said it would take no miracle, just a lot of political will from her colleagues in Congress.
"It's up to us to get the machinery going," Hutchison, the ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, said. "We'll stay vigilant and make sure there's follow-through."
Some veterans are upset because the study recommended a health care center, not a full-fledged hospital, to replace the outpatient clinic. But the center will provide services they cannot get at the clinic — cataract removals, diagnostic colonoscopies, prostate biopsies. And if the veterans need hospital care, the plan calls for a partnership with private hospitals in the area.
"If the veterans get the care they need, it doesn't matter if you call it a center or a hospital," Salinas said. "The main issue is that the Valley has been ignored for too long."
While the initial funding requires congressional approval, legislators said the state could be obliged to help fund the operation once the facility is constructed.
"This is a facility in Texas," state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, said. "And, ultimately, the state of Texas has to fund some of the growth."
If politicians fail to act, the veterans will see it as another slap in the face — and rightly so. Being without hope is bad enough. But having hope, only to see it crushed, may be worse.
"I think this proposal is just the seed," Peña said. "And it will not blossom unless we hold the feet of the federal government to the fire. And it will not blossom unless state leaders follow through."
The battle is not over, and if anyone realizes that, it is the men and women who have already fought for their country.
rseltzer@express-news.net
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jaime Kenedeno <kingalonzoalvarezdepinedaxiii@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 21, 2007 6:14 PM
Subject: Fwd: [Hector P Garcia Institute of Education, Integrity, Culture and Public Policy...
To: kenedenonews@gmail.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Advocate < kingalonzoalvarezdepinedaXIII@gmail.com >
Date: Aug 21, 2007 6:11 PM
Subject: [Hector P Garcia Institute of Education, Integrity, Culture and Public Policy...
To: kingalonzoalvarezdepinedaxiii@gmail.com
AMERICAN GI FORUM OF THE UNITED STATES
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE to all media entities and politicos
JUST IN FROM THE AMERICAN GI FORUM NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS DIRECTOR (JOE A ORTIZ):
Good morning,
This is good news for all the veterans in south Texas, the clinic is being
expanded to offer more services.
***VA Announces Heath Care Center in Harlingen*
***95 Percent of Drives to San Antonio Eliminated *
WASHINGTON (August 20, 2007) – A new Health Care Center in Harlingen
announced today by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will vastly
improve care to Valley veterans in South Texas, eliminating the vast
majority of trips required by veterans to VA medical facilities in San
Antonio. The plans will provide a new VA health care center on the
campus
of the University of Texas in Harlingen.
The announcement, which came after an independent study on the future
needs of Valley veterans requested by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison,
included
plans to expand services by VA health care facilities in McAllen and
Corpus
Christi.
"Once completed, the new health care center in Harlingen will
eliminate about 95 percent of the trips our veterans currently have to
make
to San Antonio for medical services," said Bill Feeley, VA's Deputy Under
Secretary of Health for Operations and Management. "This plan will allow
us
to start providing specialty services to Valley area veterans this year,
with even more expansion of services next year."
*The plans call for increasing the current VA health facility space in
Harlingen from 11,700 square feet to nearly 160,000 square feet by 2010.
** The expansion will begin immediately, with space tripling VA's
current space in Harlingen from 11,700 square feet to nearly 35,000
square
feet by December 2007, and then to nearly 56,000 square feet by December
2008. *
When the facility is completed, it will provide a full range of
expanded services in collaboration with the University of Texas Regional
Academic Health Center, including: - Specialty and diagnostic services, such as pharmacy, digital x-rays, CT scans, MRIs and other services; and - Outpatient surgeries, such as cataract removals, diagnostic colonoscopies and prostate biopsies, supported by
outpatient operating rooms.
# # #
To obtain a copy of the independent study of the health care needs of Valley
veterans, please go to this Internet address: *
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/docs/stvcbm.pdf
CONTACT:
Joe A. Ortiz
3718 Mendenhall
Corpus Christi, TX 78415
-------------------------------------
(361) 510-6406 (361) 855-1925
#####
*Press Release Courtesy of Kenedeno & Associates*
--
Posted By The Advocate to Hector P Garcia Institute of Education, Integrity, Culture and Public Policy at 8/21/2007 03:41:00 PM
Kenedeno & Associates
--
Kenedeno & Associates
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