Photograph: North Shore Lighthouse, Text: Congressman John F. Tierney, Representing the Sixth District of Massachusetts, Link: Home Page
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District Offices

17 Peabody Square
Peabody, MA 01960
(978) 531-1669
Fax: (978) 531-1996

Lynn City Hall
Room 105
Lynn, MA 01902
(781) 595-7375
Fax: (781) 595-7492

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Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-8020
Fax: (202) 225-5915

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 18, 2006

Tierney Tells Panel: "Bedford VA Critical In Providing Quality Care to New England Veterans"

Brockton, MA - U.S. Congressman John F. Tierney (D-Salem), whose Sixth Congressional District is home to the Bedford VA hospital, testified today before the Local Advisory Panel charged with reviewing the options put forward by the Department of Veterans Affairs consolidating facilities and transferring services relied upon by Boston area veterans.

A copy of his testimony is below. He also organized a Massachusetts Delegation letter, which raised concerns about the impact of these options and urged opposition to any proposal that does not improve the quality of care for veterans in the region (please click here). Both Senators and all ten Representatives joined in the letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Congressman Tierney's testimony:

"Thank you Chairwoman Murphy and Members of the Local Advisory Panel. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today.

As many in this room may recall, in 2003, the draft report of the national Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services - CARES - Commission called for the transfer of inpatient services from Bedford's Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Hospital.

However, after hearing from patients, hospital employees and other concerned residents, the CARES Commission reversed itself and rejected its draft recommendation with respect to Bedford.

In his May 2004 decision, then-Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi, agreed not to alter Bedford's mission.

Secretary Principi asked that a study examine the feasibility of construction of a single medical facility in Boston.

Stage one of the study required by the Secretary's decision regrettably went beyond its charge of examining the feasibility of constructing one medical center in Boston and put forward that idea and eight (8) other options for consideration.

Six of those options proposed transferring services from Bedford to another facility or a new urban campus.

The current Secretary has since taken off the table the "single- new- facility -in- Boston proposal." That should have been the end of any consideration for transferring services from Bedford!

At last year's public meeting in Boston and in comments submitted for the official record, many again came forward to affirm their support for Bedford and attest that what is occurring at Bedford cannot be reproduced at other medical centers.

The June 2006 CARES Stage One Report revealed that this Local Advisory Panel shared similar views and opposed those options calling for the consolidation of Bedford at other locations. Those views and that understanding have been appreciated.

In that same Report, Team PricewaterhouseCoopers also advised that "no further study" take place on a number of their own options proposing the consolidation of the Bedford facility.

Despite all of that, and irritatingly for families, veterans, staff and the community, VA Secretary Nicholson decided in July to continue to look into three options, all of which propose the consolidation of Bedford.

Madame Chairwoman, 'here we go again".

(It is like the monster movie with that character "Freddy" that never seems to die! You can't kill it regardless of how deeply we thrust the hard facts and best interests of area Veterans into this misguided concept!)

It appears we are essentially in the same place where we began three years ago, still fighting to make clear what should by now be obvious to all:

  • Bedford plays a crucial role in providing quality care to veterans throughout New England.
  • Bedford's Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) is one of the nation's premier centers for veterans suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
  • Bedford has three of the largest and most effective rehabilitation programs of their kind with a large number of the veterans receiving care from the domiciliary and in-patient units before entering one of these three programs.

Furthermore, any consolidation of Bedford's inpatient and residential clinical services would have great impact on families who may already travel great distances to visit their loved ones.

It would have a severely negative impact on the hospital's employees and could cause certain VA medical professionals to seek alternative employment.

There is no doubt that those who rely on - and are advocates for - Brockton may also be taken aback by these recommendations and are now asking reasonable questions about how their patient population would be affected.

Clearly, those charged with evaluating these recommendations have a serious job to do.

Their work must fully account for Bedford's value to the region but it also must be mindful of our country's shared responsibility to provide accessible quality care to all veterans who seek it.

I am concerned that we are not living up to that responsibility. Our country has spent nearly $400 billion on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We're now spending $8 billion a month in Iraq.

Let's keep in mind that there is no clear evidence that this Administration has any idea of even what level of casualties needing continued care will be!

In a recent year, it underestimated health cost needs by over $1 Billion and only after the concerted efforts of Congress did it finally acknowledge that error and seek , and get, a supplemental appropriation.

We don't even know how long our commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan will last!

Yet when it comes to projecting the future needs of our veterans, it appears that the Administration is "best-casing" how many current soldiers will warrant serious, long-term care and how difficult it will be to care for such soldiers while we are collocating services and consolidating campuses.

To that point, it may appear that promised addition of a new Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in the Bedford area makes the potential closing of the Bedford facility slightly easier to swallow - but that's not the reality.

The alarming truth is that, when considering a CBOC in Bedford, the VA actually intends to, seemingly surreptitiously, and without proper public input, assess whether the existing CBOC's in the region are still needed.

Already one attempt at rearranging the existing CBOC promises to Veterans , unsupported by data or facts, and in essence put forth in a questionable manner, for questionable purposes, has been floated.

The Lynn facility and the Gloucester facilities are able to operate above present capacity, and if anything, must be expanded to properly serve our veterans.

There should be no effort to even contemplate other changes without including veterans and community leaders in at the initial stages of any discussion.

People are now very leery of the V.A.'s actions and its failure to act in fair and transparent ways.

We should all be able to agree that opening a CBOC in Bedford only to potentially close one in Lynn or Gloucester is certainly not progress.

What we must understand is that the CARES process is not just a real property exercise to improve VA's capital infrastructure but one that impacts real people and real families.

Its legacy will ultimately evidence how dedicated we really are to expanding and enhancing the services available to veterans upon their return home.

I would urge you to review these options before you with that in mind.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be with you here today."

###

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