By Treto Garza
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar explained to veterans that plans are going accordingly. He made public that Phase I is about to be completed with the grand opening of the new Surgical Center on January 18 2011 and now the work to complete Phase II
begins.
Cuellar Congressmen
Rubn Hinojosa &
Solomon Ortiz told the
veterans attending a press conference at the Harlingen VA Outpatient Clinic on Saturday Oct. 2 2010 and sent a message to veterans that the end goal is a Veterans hospital that
will provide emergency and inpatient health care. They added that that is what they will be working on now Phase II and that they understood
the frustration on part of the veterans and made it clear that veterans must continue doing what they are doing.
That is applying pressure and constantly keeping the issue alive. The room full of Veterans and their supporters applauded and by the sound of their loud applause and body language they more or less sent the message to the congressmen that they were ready to continue the battle. The congressmen also acknowledged the full cooperation of Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn.
They said it was a united effort and that Washington knows of our plight because of it. Continue doing what you are doing all that hard
work is paying off was the message that veterans received.
All three realize that this has been a very long issue and that veterans have been trying to get a VA hospital since they returned from WWII. All three were given a newspaper article that appeared in a local newspaper dated October 12 1987 which told of veterans efforts back then.
Congressman Cuellar was surprised when Irene T. Garza handed a copy to him and told him to look at the date. She told all three of them to make sure and read the article. Thats how long veterans have been asking for a VA hospital its a shame and not fair to our veterans" she told them individually.
The press conference was called to announce the creation of the VA Texas Valley and Coastal Bend Health Care Services System which became autonomous of the South Texas Health Care System as of October 1 2010. The new system will be independent of the San Antonio-based system. It will have its own budget director and will be competing for funds against other health care systems in the Texas/Oklahoma area.
Up until now most of the VA federal funds stayed in San Antonio. The new health care system will cover a 20-county area from Laredo east toward Corpus Christi and everything south of that imaginary line. It has plans to expand the clinics in Laredo McAllen and Corpus Christi. Contracts and bidding will start soon on those projects. It will be a busy year for the new health care system.
The Congressmen showed appreciation for the help being provided by Jeff Milligan the director of the VA Texas Valley and Coastal Bend Health Care Services System. They said he was a capable administrator and right for the job at hand.
Milligan has been working closely with veteran leaders and has kept them informed of the progress being made at the clinic. He has an open door policy and has been very aggressive in recruiting new veterans to enroll in the system. Numbers numbers numbers.
That is what the VA in Washington looks at and Milligan constantly reminds veterans of this fact. At the press conference he stated that this years annual budget for the system was $147 million. He told the congressmen that projections are that the new system would add about $39 million annually to the local economy.
Homer Gallegos Chair of the Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley told the Congressmen that they has testified before a joint Senate Committee on health and we optimistic that the state of Texas stands ready to assist in bringing a VA to the valley. Treto Garza stated that we needed the Congressmens help in getting Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the valley.
Also the veterans were real glad to hear that the Congressmen would recommend another wing be added to the present addition to house emergency and inpatient services. This right up the alley of the Texas legislature since the new law created by Proposition 8 allows for the state to provide monies for construction and maintenance of hospitals in the state.
We are going to bring this suggestion before our Texas Legislators so that they can start preparing legislation and asking for monies for such a venture. Veterans will meet with State Representative Armando Mando Martinez (TX-39) and Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson later this week.
Treto Garza and Gallegos told the veterans present that we are on the right track but we must stay united and focused on our goal of getting a full VA hospital for our area. We are going to get one and we will stay on it until we get one.
Treto told them that there were many persons working on this issue and have done their part. This is not just us its the community as a whole.
Veterans need to keep at it. And we must never forget those that have helped.
