County passes resolution for building veterans hospital

BROWNSVILLE — A resolution calling for the building of a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in the Rio Grande Valley was passed Tuesday by Cameron County commissioners, citing the high number of veterans from the World War II era to today’s conflicts in the Middle East who live in South Texas.

“Resolution of Support 2007” is being circulated to local governmental bodies by the Lower Rio Grande Development Council, calling for support of House Resolution 538, introduced by U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, and backed by Reps. Ruben Hinojosa, Henry Cuellar, Lloyd Doggett and Ciro Rodriguez.

The resolution was passed without comment by county commissioners.

“Whereas Far South Texas currently lacks adequate health care resources for these proud men and women, the out-patient facilities in the 24-county area at the southern tip of Texas have limited hours of operation and must refer patients to other facilities for special tests or treatments and the nearest veterans hospital to this … region with inpatient acute medical and surgical care and extended care is in excess of 150 to 250 miles away in San Antonio Texas,” the resolution says in part.

Ortiz’s resolution calls for spending $175 million to build the hospital.

The resolution also cites the large number of new war casualties expected to return to the Valley from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan who are expected to flood the DVA health care system.

Although most veterans groups support the push to bring a hospital to the Valley, one group, America’s Last Patrol, has gone so far as marching to San Antonio and, later, across the Valley, to call attention to the need for a hospital.

But one veteran, Luis Perez of Harlingen, founder of United Veterans Organization of the Rio Grande Valley, said the effort is misdirected.

“I would ask them, ‘If you had a choice of going to Valley Baptist Medical Center, or a VA hospital, which would you choose?’ ” Perez said. “Have you ever stayed in a VA hospital?”

He wants to see veterans be allowed to use their card from the DVA to go to private, local hospitals, said Perez, a Vietnam War Marine Corps combat veteran.

“Every time I’ve spoken to anyone in the VA about this, they say they are getting out of the brick-and-mortar business,” Perez said. The giant federal agency now is building only clinics, such as the “super clinic” being constructed in Harlingen next to the Regional Academic Health Center and VBMC.

“They (DVA) have shut down 40 or 50 hospitals up north,” Perez said of old, dilapidated government veterans hospitals.

Many of the long trips that veterans now make to Audie Murphy DVA Hospital in San Antonio, for procedures as simple as dental cleanings, will be eliminated when the Harlingen clinic opens, Perez said.

Recent national news reports of crumbling buildings and unsanitary conditions such as at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., have called attention to problems that active duty soldiers and veterans face in government facilities, Perez said.

His comments do not apply to doctors who treat veterans in the Valley through the DVA clinic, Perez said.

“I have a lot of faith in the doctors who treat veterans here and in McAllen,” Perez said. “But they’re overwhelmed with so many patients.”

The resolution passed by county commissioners Tuesday states there are now 114,000 veterans in Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Calhoun Cameron, Crockett, DeWitt, Dimmit, Duval, Goliad, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Starr, Victoria, Webb, Willacy and Zapata counties.