MAHONING VALLEY Veterans show support for merger of 2 Northeast Ohio medical centers

Moving services to Wade Park could provide easier access to acute care.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Area veterans generally support the merger of the Veterans Affairs' Brecksville Medical Center with Wade Park Medical Center, both in Cleveland, once they understand that no services would be lost.
J.P. Brown III of Youngstown, national American Veterans executive committeeman from the Ohio AMVETS, said an informational meeting for veterans on the VA's CARES -- Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services -- commission recommendation was conducted in Youngstown earlier in February.
"When the ramifications of the consolidation were fully explained, they seemed to be more in favor of what's happening," Brown said. The CARES commission has recommended the VA close seven hospitals, including the one in Brecksville.
Under CARES' proposal, Brecksville's inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services and 197-bed nursing home would be moved to a new addition to be constructed at the Wade Park veterans complex, said David Jewel, spokesman for the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, which includes the two northeast Ohio VA hospitals. Brecksville also houses a drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit and an outpatient clinic, which would be housed at Wade Park.
No programs would be lost if Brecksville merged with Wade Park, Brown said.
What would be added
In fact, he said new blind rehabilitation and spinal cord injury facilities would be added, bringing them closer to area veterans. Right now, if a blind vet needs rehabilitation, he has to go to Chicago, and there is a 12- to 18-month waiting period, he said.
Moving services to Wade Park also could provide easier-to-access care in other ways, Brown said.
For instance, if a resident at Brecksville has a heart attack now, it is a 40-minute ambulance ride to Wade Park's acute care hospital. If Brecksville is consolidated with Wade Park, moving the patient to an acute care facility would just be a matter of being wheeled down the hall, he said.
VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi has said the CARES report recommends closing some hospitals and opening more outpatient clinics in order to shift focus by placing patient care closer to where veterans live, and shedding underused and outdated facilities.
"From what I hear, the ones complaining the most don't understand that the money saved by the moves would help pay for new facilities and services,' Brown said.
The major veterans organization are closely monitoring the CARES committee to make sure vets come out ahead in this. In this case, vets are not losing, they are gaining, Brown said.
Jobs offered
In addition, the Brecksville employees have been offered jobs at Wade Park, he said.
Congressman Sherrod Brown, D-13th, whose district contains the Brecksville hospital, is opposed to its closing.
Principi has cited a General Accounting Office report that says the VA is wasting $1 million a day heating and maintaining extra infrastructure.
Principi said the number of veterans using the system has risen to more than 5 million from 3 million in 1998, when a new law made all 25 million U.S. veterans eligible for VA care.
The restructuring is estimated to cost $4.6 billion over 20 years, with some costs offset by closing hospitals or leasing out unused facilities.