onetogoto: SOUTH TEXAS FULL SERVICE MEDICAL CENTER ACTION

onetogoto: SOUTH TEXAS FULL SERVICE MEDICAL CENTER ACTION: Public Law 112-94 the Strategic Capital Investment Plan of 2012 During the closing of the year, veterans received good news from Washingt...

Message to all Veterans

Message to All Veterans

Ever since our Rio Grande Valley heroes returned from World War II and became veterans, they have been asking the government for a Veterans Administration hospital for the area.

When the Korean Conflict ended, those veterans joined their comrades from WW II. Then came Vietnam and when that “police action” ended, those veterans joined their fellow comrades of WW II and Korea. Veterans wrote, signed petitions, and visited their Congressmen. All to no avail.

Then came lesser skirmishes like Grenada, Panama, and Bosnia. Then came Desert Storm and now the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. The veterans from these battles and wars have joined with older veterans in demanding a VA hospital for the Valley. Other veterans who did not actually participate in a war zone have joined the effort, since they too qualify for VA health services. And, still no full service medical center.

Locally, the number of veterans in South Texas has risen sharply. It is now up to 118,630. Yet only about 30 percent of these veterans are registered with the VA. This is pertinent when referencing the statement above by Secretary Shinseki. He said: “Veterans are our sole reason for existence and our number one priority-bar none.” Well, it seems like that statement does not apply to South Texas. It should don't you think?

Veterans join forces with your comrades that are pushing for a VA Full Service Medical Center for south Texas.  Its long overdue and there is a definite need for one.

Position Paper on Justification for VA hospital

Committee name         Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley ad hoc

Topic                           To build a hospital to meet the healthcare needs of veterans in the lower                                         RGV and Coastal Bend area

Counties                      Duval, Kleberg, Nueces, San Patricio, Refugio, Kenedy, Jim Hogg,

                                    Webb, Zapata, Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, & Willacy

State                            Texas              

Background Information

The lower Rio Grande Valley region is made up of 8 counties: Kenedy, Jim Hogg, Zapata, Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, & Willacy. Added to the region of need is Webb County, located west of the Zapata County. The Coastal Bend includes the counties of Duval, Kleberg, Nueces, San Patricio, and Refugio.

The firm Booz Allen Hamilton conducted a study in 2007 entitled, VA Health Care Study for Inpatient and Specialty Outpatient Services in the South Texas Valley-Coastal Bend Market. In the study they identified the counties into sectors. Specifically, Sector 1 was identified to be the Coastal Bend counties and Sector 2 was recognized as the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Group’s Position

The Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) was created to support the construction of a hospital that would meet the healthcare needs of veterans in the lower RGV and coastal bend area. It is the purpose of the Veterans Alliance to address the lack of services offered in clinics versus what can be made available in a hospital, like:

• Primary Care
• Medical & Surgical Specialty Care
• Mental Health
• Inpatient Care

Moreover, it is the purpose of the Veterans Alliance to address the travel burdens that have arisen as a result of traveling to San Antonio to obtain care in the areas, such as:

• Transportation & Lodging
• Van Service
• Ambulance Service

While the Booz Allen Hamilton study (2007, p. 31) concluded that “the demand for beds is projected to fluctuate, rising and then declining, compared to the baseline through FY 2025,” the study also added:

      “In both sectors, the demand for outpatient specialty care is expected to approximately           double and the demand for mental health services is expected to increase by approximately            55 percent between 2005 and 2025. In both sectors, the top four utilized specialties are     projected to be podiatry, cardiology, orthopedics, and urology” (2007, p. 32).

Booz Allen Hamilton (2007, p. 34)  showed “the gaps between the health care needs of veterans living in the Valley-Coastal Bend market, and the supply of VA health care services available to them. The local clinics meet the primary care needs of Sector One and Sector Two enrollees; however, VA inpatient and outpatient specialty services are not available locally. Sector Two veterans face especially heavy travel burdens traveling approximately ten hours round trip to access inpatient and outpatient specialty care in San Antonio.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has declared that “veterans’ health care services in far South Texas were not adequate to meet standards for access to care and the needs and expectations of Valley veterans” (Draft-Statement of Objectives, 2008, p. 1). Additionally, the draft (2008, p. 1) stated, “VA supply does not currently meet the veteran demand for acute inpatient and specialty outpatient care in the Valley.”

In an interview by an Associated Press reporter in 1987, when then U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen and Congressman Eligio Kika de la Garza “expressed frustration and even dismay at the VA’s insistence that a Valley VA hospital has little or no merit.” 

Justification Summary

“The Booz Allen study team does not recommend building a small hospital in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This is notable since there has been considerable advocacy to construct such a facility. The projections suggest that by 2015 there will be a need for 15 acute medical and surgical beds and 4 psychiatric beds, and by 2025 this will decline to 14 and 4 beds, respectively” (2007, pp. xi-xii). According to presentation made to the Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley, regarding the “VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System” as shared by Jeff Milligan, the following numbers reflect the number of patients admitted to the South Texas Health System (STHS) and Valley Baptist Health System (VBHS) from April-November 2009: 

• Patients Admitted =   1207

o   STHS:       696                             

o   VBHS:      511                             

• Patients Visited ER = 989

o   STHS:       522                             

o   VBHS:      467                             

• Average Daily Census = 25.39

o   STHS:       15.17                          

o   VBHS:      10.22

Valley Veteran Inpatient Contracts FY10-April 2010 STHS/VBHS:

      o    Patients Admitted = 820

• Patients Visited ER = (Oct-April) = 1,276
• Average Daily Census = 37.90

New up to date statistics:

       o    Patients Admitted=

The Booz Allen study team was unable to offer a final number to truly confirm how many veterans would come to Harlingen if the flagship hospital for the new district would be established in that city. Even more importantly, there are other qualifying veterans that have not been taken into account. Plus, within the next two months the veteran population will increase dramatically with the arrival of the “winter Texan” veterans. Another sector of veterans that are anticipated to seek VA health care for those veterans that qualify for health services but have not applied for them. This is conjecture based on the recession fueling the surge on new veterans especially the older veterans. Vietnam veterans are coming forward an applying for benefits. “Aging bodies and changing rules have made more Vietnam veterans eligible than ever before” says John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America. The Veterans Affairs is proceeding with plans to split the Valley, Corpus Christi and Laredo off from its San Antonio-based hospital system by 2011 and give the region its own director, its own budget and its own office in Harlingen.

Conclusion;

There are no confirmed figures as to veteran population in Deep South Texas, we are basing our findings on the Booz Allen Hamilton Study and its recommendations.  Mindful, they will eventually become Veterans Affairs statistics.  Since ADC statistics are proving that there are enough veterans to sustain a hospital, the Veterans Alliance suggests that the present expansion in Harlingen include emergency and inpatient care.  We urge your support for adding emergency and inpatient services to the medical facility in Harlingen so that the veterans of Deep South Texas will finally have the full hospital that they have been pleading for over the past 40 years. This is the most cost effective way.  Since the VA has already invested over 40 million dollars on the proposed new building, it can easily be adapted to provide the new services recommended.  The State of Texas stands ready to assist the VA in whatever way the VA suggests and is allowed by the new law. The VA can partner with Texas in this expansion if VA so wishes.

Our elected officials and veterans call this approach the “common sense solution”.  Our regional and local elected officials support our efforts.  Please consider our pleas for a VA hospital.  It has been a long drawn out battle that needs closure for our Veterans.  Veterans are passing away each day with their dream of a VA hospital unfulfilled.

On behalf of the Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley and veterans and their supporters thank you. Should you have any questions, please call us.  God Bless.

Sincerely,

Homer Gallegos

Chair

Arturo Treto Garza

Co Chair

Veterans Hospital for South Texas

December 14, 2011 Update on VA hospital efforts

What is happening with Congressman's Henry Cuellar's HB 1318? He filed this bill and it was sent to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, where it was send to the House sub-committee on Veteans Health. In June 2011, Cuellar attached his bill to the Military and Veterans Affairs and other related agencies Appropriation Bill-HB 2055 inJune of this year.  He claimed that it would bring us closer to getting a Full Service Medical Center for the valley. That bill passed the House with a 411-5 vote and was sent to the Senate. HB 1318 calls for an expansion the Harlingen VA Surgical Center to a Full Service Medical Center House Report 112-94 (accompanying HR 2055, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012).

The House Committee Report included the following language regarding the attachment:
Health care center expansions- Recognizing the lack of accessible VA services in many regions of the country, the Committee urges the Secretary to include in the VA Strategic Capital Improvement Plan the expansion of existing VA health care centers to include in-patient accommodations, urgent care services, and the full range of services required by women veterans when the absence of such services locally requires veterans to make round trips of more than five hours to access such services at a VA facility.

The Senate also passed 2055 and Congress agreed to send it to the President for his consideration on December 8, 2011. However, the final vote did not include anything on the amendment filed by Cuellar. At this time, we do not know if indeed HB 1318 as attached by Cuellar is part of the bill. The Appropriations bill is likely to become law.

Veterans need to call Cuellar's office and ask him or his staff what happened to his attached bill. Call now before it is send to the POTUS. With the holidays fastly approaching there might not be any new filings, but there is still time in case HB 1318 was not part of the bill.

Update on VA hospital

Message body

Harlingen, TX

Arturo Treto Garza

956.226.9176

December 10, 2011

This past summer, Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) included legislation in the fiscal year 2012 Military Construction and Veterans Funding bill t(HB 2055) that would bring south Texas one step closer to having a full-service VA hospital. He attached his HB 1318 to it. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday June 14, 2011by a vote of 411 to 5 and on June 15, 2011 and was referred to the Senate.

Congressman Cuellar’s legislation calls for the expansion of veterans’ health care access and urges the VA Administration to prioritize the construction of a VA hospital in south Texas by placing it on the VA Strategic Capital Improvement Plan (SCIF), designed to place the project on a priority list. Additionally, Congressman Cuellar has introduced a bill to expand the existing VA health care center in Harlingen to provide in-patient care, urgent care services and a full range of services for women veterans as well as other support services.

The Senate voted on July 17, 2011 and passed with an 89-11 vote The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bill (2055). The Senate voted on amendments of their own and again passed with a vote of 97-2. Cuellar’s amendment was included and remains as part of the bill. The bill now moves to a Conference Committee where both Chambers need to agree on. . The House agreed to a Conference Committee on this past Wednesday December 7, 2011 and presented a list of Conferees. There will be 19 conferees from the House and 17 from the Senate. The Senate also submitted names of the Conferees.

Veterans in south Texas are optimistic in the passage of the bill and that it will be forwarded to the POTUS. The POTUS has 10 days (inclding Sundays) to act on the action or it becomes law automatically. Of course he can review it and sign it or not approve it. Veterans hope that he signs it since he promised to help during his Presidential Election campaign.

At this time, a date has not been set for the Conference Committee conferees to meet. Veterans will monitor 2055’s movement. If the bill becomes law, then a proposal that is being worked on by the local Veterans Health Care Network will stand a better chance of getting funded through the SCIF..

V A Hospital for South Texas

Here we go again.  We are launching another effort through our Senators offices. They have agreed to submit and amendment to the National Defense Authorization Bill pending before Congress.The National Defense bill is set to pass and amendments will also be approved if the amendments are allowed.  It is a long shot, but one that we need to look at.

 Here is the Press Release issued by the Senators.

UNITED STATES SENATE
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, JOHN CORNYN United States Senators - Texas For Immediate Release	CONTACT: Megan Mitchell (Cornyn) (202) 224-0704 Jeff Nelligan (Hutchison), 202-224-9767 Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Sens. Cornyn, Hutchison Offer Amendment To Bring Inpatient VA Facility To The Valley

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, today offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 that would require the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs to incorporate a full-service inpatient health care facility into the existing South Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen.

Sens. Cornyn and Hutchison have introduced similar legislation in the past and continue to make the case for a VA inpatient facility in Far South Texas with top-ranking VA officials, as well as the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (see attached). While the Senators have supported and welcomed expansions to outpatient and other services at the existing Harlingen VA facilities, they maintain that access to VA inpatient care still must be provided.

“This holiday season will see the return of tens of thousands of service members from locations across the globe, including the remaining 40,000 troops in Iraq who are winding down our nation’s 9-year mission there. Already, the growing population of 100,000 veterans in Far South Texas lacks adequate access to full-service inpatient health care, and further delay in providing this population with the local inpatient care they deserve is unacceptable. I will not give up the fight to make this inpatient facility a reality for the veterans of South Texas,” Sen. Cornyn said.

“A grateful nation cares for those who have answered the call to serve, even after they leave the battlefield,” said Sen. Hutchison. “The veterans of South Texas answered their nation’s call, and many of them went in harm’s way and risked everything for their country. This amendment will help to ensure that these South Texas veterans receive the care they deserve.”

The hospital issue is not dead. Veterans are still at it. It has been a long sought goal of many veterans and for once they feel that they have had an impact at the national level. Veterans must continue forward.  All veterans that have been active in this movement should re-charge their batteries and once again make an all out push for a VA hospital for the area.  Ana Garcia of  Cornyn’s office has been very aggressive in committing the senator’s office to make every effort to move the issue. Communications with the Senator’s national office are via satellite and those sessions are the next best thing to being there.  Veterans are counting on her continued full support.

Veterans Meet with State Rep. Lozano

Veterans meet with State Representative J. M. Lozano in Harlingen on October 20, 211. L-R: Joe Ibarra, Pete Prax Garza, Pedro Pete Herrera, Manuel Pena, Rep. Lozano, Irene T. Garza, Adelaido Lalo Cantu and Arturo Treto Garza.