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VA TO EXPAND HEALTHCARE IN RIO GRANDE VALLEY
WITH
NEW CENTER IN HARLINGEN -- Not everyone is
happy
about the announcement. Activists and U.S.
Senator
still calling for a full VA hospital.
Rio Grande Valley veterans march for a VA
hospital in 2006.
For more on veterans fighting for a VA hospital
in the Rio Grande Valley, use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=rio+grande&op=ph
To read the VA press release about the new
center...click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
vap07/vap082007-1.htm
To read the VA study that lead to this
decision...click here...
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/docs/stv-cbm.pdf
We have two stories.
First story
here... http://www.
elpasotimes.com/ci_6670813
Story below:
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VA says it will expand Valley medical care
By LYNN BREZOSKY Associated Press Writer
HARLINGEN, Texas—Rio Grande Valley veterans who sometimes travel five
hours for routine health care would get most of what they need closer to
home under an expansion plan announced Monday by the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
The centerpiece of the plan, which isn't fully funded but is scheduled
to be finished by 2010, would be the 158,000-square-foot Health Care
Center on the Harlingen campus of the University of Texas-San Antonio
Health Science Center. The facility is currently 11,700 square feet.
The plan to eliminate 95 percent of the need for veterans to travel for
care came as a result of a study commissioned by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison.
Hutchison, a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, called the plan a
"huge win for the Valley" and said she would make it a priority to fund
the plan.
"We were told very moving stories about the arduous travel for what
might be a 10-, 20-minute outpatient service," said Dr. Kevin Vigilante
of Booz Allen, a consulting firm that did the study.
Valley veterans have long asked for their own medical facility, saying
there are long waits for what services are available locally and that
other services require five-hour trips one way to the nearest veterans'
hospital in San Antonio.
Hundreds marched to San Antonio in 2005 to call attention to their
plight. About 1,000 appeared at a town hall meeting earlier this month
attended by U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House
Veterans Affairs Committee, to push a bill that among other options
calls for a 50-bed hospital.
That bill is sponsored by Democratic Reps. Solomon Ortiz of Corpus
Christi, Ruben Hinojosa of Mercedes, Henry Cuellar of Laredo and others,
including Hutchison in the Senate. Filner pledged to see the bill
through his committee.
The VA plan announced Monday doesn't call for a separate hospital but
would offer substantial new access to medical procedures such as
physical therapy, echocardiograms and cancer care.
Besides the expansion in Harlingen, services would be added at existing
veterans health care facilities in McAllen and Corpus Christi. There are
45,000 veterans in the Rio Grande Valley and another 45,000 in the
Corpus Christi area.
Vigilante said the Booz Allen study found the biggest need among Valley
veterans was outpatient health care, with only about 2 percent of cases
needing hospital stays.
He said the Harlingen facility could meet that need by immediately
expanding services, then increasing the size of the building. An
addition of 35,000 square feet has been funded and would be followed by
expansions in 2008 and 2010.
Vigilante said the Valley needed only about 15 overnight beds because of
a dwindling population of World War II and Korean War veterans and a
general move in the health care industry toward outpatient care.
Bill Feeley, a deputy undersecretary for the VA, said the plan was a
"fast track effort" that could be a model for 10 to 15 other areas of
the United States where veterans felt their health care needs were not
being served.
Benito Contreras, a 31-year-old veteran of Afghanistan and the Gulf War,
said the plan was "in the right direction."
But Lydia Caballero, who has been a leader in the veterans' awareness
campaign, questioned the study, saying there were Valley veterans who
weren't counted. She said nothing had changed her view that a separate
hospital is the best approach.
"It's a study, and that's all it is," Caballero said. "Therefore, we say
thank you very much, but we still have our own agenda."
-------------------------
Second story here...
http://www.riogrande
guardian.com/rggnews_story.
asp?story_no=25
Story below:
-------------------------
Cornyn: Valley veterans still need a VA
hospital
By Steve Taylor
HARLINGEN, - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn says he welcomes a plan by the VA to
build a Health Care Center in Harlingen but says it is not a final
answer to long-term care for Rio Grande Valley veterans.
News of the health care center in Harlingen was announced Monday by the
Department of Veterans Affairs, following a study requested by U.S. Sen.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas.
“This study gives voice to what many in South Texas have known for far
too long which is that the current level of access to quality health
care for our veterans is absolutely unacceptable. The federal government
needs to take action,” said Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee, in a prepared statement.
“Expanding the current VA health facility in Harlingen is good news and
an important step to address this problem in the short-term. However, it
should not be the last step or a final answer for the long-term. Our
veterans in South Texas have risked their lives to preserve our freedom
and democracy. They deserve access to top health care at a first-rate
facility that provides them with the same deep commitment that they
provided to our nation over these many years."
On July 20, Cornyn introduced the South Texas Veterans Access to Care
Act of 2007, S. 1838. This is a Senate companion bill to similar
legislation introduced in the U.S. House in January by U.S. Reps. Ortiz,
Hinojosa, Doggett and Cuellar.
“While I applaud the results of this study and will work with my
colleagues in Congress to ensure that the funding is provided, I will
continue to make sure the federal government fully meets the inpatient
hospital needs of South Texas veterans,” Cornyn said.
“The federal government must remain focused on the long-term by
providing for the over 100,000 veterans in South Texas who deserve a new
health care facility in the region.”
According to the Booz Allen Hamilton study there are only 45,000
veterans in the Valley.
At a news conference at the UT-Regional Academic Health Center in
Harlingen on Monday, VA Deputy Undersecretary of Health for Operations
and Management Bill Feeley said the new center would vastly improve care
to Valley veterans by eliminating many of the trips veterans are
currently required to make to receive VA medical services in San
Antonio.
The new VA health care center will be situated on the campus of the RAHC.
“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,” Feeley said.
“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 plan calls 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 the 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.
Hutchison requested a study in late 2005 immediately following a march
by Valley veterans from Edinburg to San Antonio in protest at the poor
health care services offered by VA in the Valley.
When the new facility is completed, Feeley said, it will provide a full
range of expanded services in collaboration with the University of Texas
Regional Academic Health Center. The services will include specialty and
diagnostic services, such as pharmacy, digital x-rays, CT scans, MRIs,
and other services. The new center will also offer outpatient services,
such as cataract removals, diagnostic colonoscopies and prostate
biopsies. It will be supported by outpatient operating rooms, Feeley
said.
Outgoing VA Secretary James Nicholson asked independent consultants Booz
Allen Hamilton to conduct the study at a cost to taxpayers of over
860,000 dollars.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
