Last night's meeting brought to the floor the idea of banning together, perhaps with other veteran's organizations in the area, and raising a little cane about trying to get, at least, a VA outpatient clinic established here in Springfield. There are nearly 24,000 veterans in Greene County, many of whom use or could use VA medical services. And that doesn't count the veterans that live just across county lines in adjacent counties. Mt. Vernon VA does a fine job and they have competent and dedicated personnel. But physicians and nurses can have as many as 1200 patients apiece assigned to them. And all vets who use Mt. Vernon and Fayetteville have to navigate through all kinds of weather, fight traffic, and spend hours to receive lab and medical services or even to buy a bottle of pills. This is particularly troublesome (and dangerous) to vets with severe ailments or disabilities, not to mention the imposition on those who have to provide transportation and care to and from. I've lost count of the elderly patents at Mt. Vernon who, accompanied by their equally elderly spouse, have to make a 60-100 mile round trip on icy roads and Interstate traffic -- a peril and hardship for both but no choice when the alternative is no care or treatment at all. Springfield is the 3d largest metro area in the state. That means the 3 largest concentration of veteran-friendly voters. Surely we can muster enough attention to get a VA facility here. After all, Springfield isn't exactly office space poor. Anybody else have a thought on this?
Larry S.
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The Question I would ask in light of the article below is should we approach other local veteran organizations and collectively approach the VA with a request for at least a clinic in Springfield. Post members please respond with your opinion.
Cliff Hall
VA to Provide Extra Funds for Rural Vets
Week of January 19, 2009
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will provide $21.7 million to its regional health care systems to improve services specifically designed for veterans in rural areas. The extra funding is part of a two-year VA program and will be used to increase the number of mobile clinics, establish new outpatient clinics, expand fee-based care, explore collaborations with federal and community partners, accelerate the use of telemedicine deployment, and fund innovative pilot programs. VA's Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) with less than 3 percent of their patients in rural areas will receive $250,000. Those with population of rural veterans between 3 percent and 6 percent will receive $1 million each. And VISNs with more than 6 percent of their veterans population in rural areas will receive $1.5 million.
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