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VA hospital delays draw officials' ire

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 30, 2008 at 5:10 p.m.

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In a world reduced to acronyms, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo had one for the years of delays over the proposed Veterans Administration hospital, which has been through three different plans under three VA secretaries.

"BTDT," he said. "Build The Damn Thing."

That drew the only laugh during a sometimes contentious meeting Friday between VA officials and a roomful of veterans, many of whom expressed anger, disappointment and distrust over the way the VA has handled the project since 2002.

"Sometimes, I feel like we're Charlie Brown and the VA is Lucy, and they're holding the football and they're daring us to kick one more time," said Ralph Bozella from the Colorado Board of Veterans Affairs. "And here we go, and we're back on our backsides.

"The problem is, this is not a cartoon, and it is certainly not a joke in this community."

The meeting at a building at Fitzsimons was hosted by U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and U.S. Reps. Tom Tancredo and Ed Perlmutter, who received word of the latest plan just a month ago. It was created with no input from them or veterans' groups, and their members clearly were miffed at being excluded from the process.

"I would ask the VA to stop being a faceless bureaucracy," Bozella said. "Get involved with us, ask us our opinions, and when there is a problem, let us know - let us be part of that solution."

The latest plan focuses on expanding care in outlying areas, featuring more home health care and consultations by phone and the Internet, said Glen Grippen, director of the Veterans Integrated Service Network that covers Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

Declining numbers of veterans and increasing need for outpatient services led the VA to consider a less traditional, "veteran-centric" approach, one that will reduce the demands on Denver by expanding services in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and cities in Wyoming and Montana.

The plan calls for a VA Ambulatory Health Care Center at Fitzsimons for primary and specialty care, outpatient surgery and a nursing home care unit.

Veterans groups were particularly opposed to the elimination of the original plan's dedicated spinal cord injury (SCI) center in favor of more home and outpatient care.

The first plan included 50 in-patient SCI beds, the next 30 beds, and now eight beds, Perlmutter said. "That just isn't good enough."

The Democratic congressman, whose district includes Fitzsimons, said he now understands the VA's reasoning for taking the services to veterans rather than forcing them to travel to services.

"That's good, but a lot of them are right here in Denver and the metro area," Perlmutter said.

The latest plan

Here are some details of the VA's most-recent proposal for health care at Fitzsimons and other places in the four-state region of Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming:

* A Health Care Center with out-patient primary, specialty and ambulatory services

* Two new towers shared with the University of Colorado, one for in-patient care and the other for research

* Eight in-patient spinal cord injury beds

* Thirty long-term care rehabilitation beds

* Post-traumatic stress disorder outpatient treatment program

* Expanded home health care and telemedicine (Internet and phone consultation)

* Expanded health care center with ambulatory surgery for Colorado Springs

* Expanded out-patient services in Cheyenne, Helena, Billings and Grand Junction

Comments

  • May 31, 2008

    4:07 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    roger44 writes:

    This country depends on the military to keep us free then throws them to the wolves when they are discharged. Can't put a soldier in a war zone for 15 months and expect him/her to come home the same person. A Police Officer gets in a shooting and he's put on leave and gets counseling, yet a soldier deserves less?

  • May 31, 2008

    9:48 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Frank25 writes:

    Roger 44 I don't know who you are and I doubt you attended this meeting. Battle for new VAMC started in 1997, with a plan in 2002 that was a win-win situation for ALL veterans in middle of this country. VA is rated as best and most economical healthcare system by peer groups, but there will always be loose ends. I served 26 years 18 days and have been involved with veteran issues as volunteer veteran, working within the veteran organizations. Your posting does not help us, and keep in mind that majority of those in VA are veterans themselves. If you can do better, come forth and work for positive improvement. We need younger veterans with energy to replace all of us who have pulled the wagon for too long. Or are you one of the "winter soldiers" who complain, and did not serve? Our meeting yesterday was cantankerous with 3 Secretaries of VA in past 7 years, with 3 different plans, and not a spadeful of dirt moved yet. VA at present location is doing a tremendous job in old, outdated facility, under handicaps you don't have a clue about. I will be 79 in November, an am not a VA employee, and I am unaffiliated voter. I want the new facility built FOR ALL VETERANS IN THE 21ST CENTURY MODE.

  • June 2, 2008

    10:19 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BuffDriver writes:

    Mr. Tancredo should be mad. If the original proposal for two towers--one for UCH and one for the VA--had been completed, vets would be being served in that facility today. The villian is former VA secretary, Antonio Principi. Just before he left office, he screwed the pooch...killed the two towers in favor of a 35+ acre campus. Now, years later, we are back to two towers..this time the VA will get a 20-year lease. With an election in November, with a new VA secretary, vets need to be worried about what kind of facility they will finally get in 2012...2013?....2020?