North Country veterans share VA health care concerns with Stefanik
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was in Plattsburgh on Tuesday to meet with a small group of North Country veterans. They said they're having major...
May 02, 2018 — Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was in Plattsburgh on Tuesday to meet with a small group of North Country veterans. They said they're having major problems with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or the VA, the agency that provides health care for millions of veterans around the country.
For years, the VA health system has been plagued by long wait times and limited access to care, and Northern New York is no exception.
About 15 people drank coffee and sat around plastic folding tables at the American Legion for a mini-listening session with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
“This is really for me to hear from you about what your top priorities are. If you have ideas for policy solutions,” Stefanik said. The veterans had a lot of ideas – and complaints.
Steve Bowman is director of the Clinton County Veterans Service Agency. He said in Plattsburgh, there’s one VA outpatient clinic that serves 2,000 people. “The clinic is too small, the equipment that they have is not enough to be able to operate with the patient load that they have,” Bowman said.
So a lot of people make the two-and-a-half hour drive to the VA medical center in Albany. In fact, Bowman said the VA often requires vets to go there. He said the VA should consider working with local health care providers, so patients don’t have to drive so far.
“The stance that is coming out of the Albany VA medical center is that everything is going to be done in Albany,” Bowman said. “And there are many veterans that cannot make that trip due to their health.”
But some travel even farther than Albany. Frank McGrath said his son served in the Army in Iraq and suffered a traumatic brain injury from an explosion. McGrath said he ended up going all the way to Florida for treatment.
“My son spent four and a half years down there. No help. Matter of fact, he got worse,” McGrath said.
Stefanik said her office is working on these issues to improve access to care. She hopes to use the River Hospital in Alexandria Bay, near Fort Drum, as a model. Last year, after a lot of red tape, the River Hospital got the VA’s approval to treat veterans locally for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Overshadowing this whole conversation was a vacuum at the very top of the Department of Veterans Affairs. President Trump’s pick to lead the agency, Ronny Jackson, was accused of drinking on the job and giving out prescription drugs. Jackson stepped aside last week when those allegations came to light.
Even so, Stefanik said she trusts President Trump to pick another nominee.
“When you are nominating people at the cabinet level they need to be able to withstand questions on their record, questions on their tenure in various positions,” Stefanik said. “But I’m hopeful that the next nominee will have strong bipartisan support.”
She said she’s confident that the administration will focus more on vetting before they put forth another name to lead the agency that’s responsible for veterans’ health care.
