By Albert Amateau
Veterans, elected officials and the dean of New York University’s medical school were among the voices raised recently against the Department of Veterans Affairs medical reorganization plan that could close the V.A. Hospital complex on E. 23rd St. and First Ave.
At a V.A. hearing on Sept. 17 in the Bronx, Dr. Robert M. Glickman, dean of the N.Y.U. medical school, said the proposed plan by the V.A. to transfer most of the medical services from Manhattan to Brooklyn would deny many veterans the care they need in cardiology, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, dialysis and H.I.V./AIDS.
Glickman said that research that the N.Y.U. medical college and the university hospital conduct at the 23rd St. V.A. center would be jeopardized if the Department of Veterans Affairs “moves its operations to the smaller, less-equipped facility in Brooklyn.”
A City Council hearing on Sept. 16 convened by Councilmember Margarita Lopez, attracted veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf War who denounced the potential closing of the hospital.
At a news conference on the steps of City Hall on Sept. 5, Lopez denounced the proposal as “unacceptable and ridiculous.”
“If there is money to send men and women to fight in Iraq, there must be enough money to take care of them when they return,” Lopez said. Although the consolidation plan that would affect several V.A. medical centers across the county has not yet been approved, Lopez said that several veterans in her Lower East Side District who had been going to the 23rd St. center for outpatient treatment were recently told to go to the V.A. hospital in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
“If the V.A. is interested in the real estate business and wants to sell the Manhattan property, we are prepared to fight,” Lopez said.
A spokesperson for the V.A. said in a phone interview recently that the re-organization plan, known as CARES [Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services], was intended to restructure medical care to provide better service to more veterans and was in its early stages. Any questions about what would become of the hospital complex on First Ave. at 23rd St. are “premature,” the spokesperson said.
City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum have also spoken against the consolidation plan to close the 350-bed center in Manhattan. “At a time when we should be investing more in the healthcare of those who fought for America, we should not be making it more difficult for veterans to access quality healthcare — not in New York, not anywhere,” Miller said.
In August, Representative Carolyn Maloney and U.S. Senators Hilary Clinton and Chuck Schumer wrote to V.A. Department Secretary Anthony Principi to keep the 23rd St. center open.
John Penley a Vietnam-era veteran and East Village resident, said in a recent interview that the 23rd St. hospital was his only source of medical care. “Every time I’ve been over there, the place is overflowing with people. At a time we got wars going on all over the planet, to cut the only V.A. hospital in Manhattan is incredible.”
The consolidation proposal would transfer all inpatient care to Brooklyn and keep outpatient care in Manhattan, possibly in a location other than the 23rd St. hospital.
However, a report on a July site visit to the Manhattan hospital by a V.A. CARES commission indicates that at least some consolidation has already taken place.
“The network has consolidated management of Manhattan, Brooklyn and St. Albans [Queens] facilities and has undertaken to eliminate redundancies among those sites,” the report says, adding; “This includes consolidating complex surgery in Manhattan and oncology in Brooklyn, creating specialty niches at each site. The network [of hospitals] feels this approach is essential to maintaining the training status and affiliate relationships at each site.”
The site-visit report, which has become part of the V.A. Department record, also raises the problem of “the potential cost of renovating or replacing the large building in Manhattan to provide outpatient care.” The section of the report on the 23rd St. center concludes, “Due to the complexity of travel within the New York metropolitan area, eliminating inpatient care at this [Manhattan] site may have a significant impact on the veteran population in this network.”
A final CARES report is to be submitted to Secretary Principi at the end of this year and a final decision is expected early in 2004.
