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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 20, 2007
CONTACT: Geoff Embler or Matt Mackowiak

Sen. Hutchison Reviews Results of Valley Veterans Health Care Study
Independent Study Calls for Major Expansion of Services in the Valley


WASHINGTON -- Texas’s senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R–TX) today received a briefing from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials on the results of an independent study that she requested be conducted by the VA to suggest ways to improve veterans’ health care in the Rio Grande Valley. The briefing was also attended by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (U.S. Army, Ret.), State Representatives Juan Garcia III (D-Corpus Christi), Ismael “Kino” Flores (D-Palmview) and Aaron Pena (D-Edinburg), Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell, McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez, LaFeria Mayor Steve Brewer and UT Health Science Center at San Antonio President Francisco Cigarroa, M.D.

“The study showed something that we have known for a long time in the Valley, that health care services for veterans must be expanded,” Sen. Hutchison said. “The study conducted by the VA will rapidly expand services and cut down on 95% of the travel to Audie Murphy in San Antonio. Together, working with the Texas Congressional delegation, state legislators from South Texas, and local leaders and veterans, we can deliver a major improvement in the short term upon which we can build in the future. Now, with this study in hand, we have a building block to accomplish what Valley veterans need.”

Valley veterans have been burdened with hours-long bus rides to receive treatment at the VA hospital in San Antonio. Expanded health care resources in the region will allow more convenient access to a wider range of medical services without arduous trips to another facility.

Senator Hutchison personally made a request to VA Secretary Jim Nicholson to have his department conduct a study to examine access to health care for veterans in the Rio Grande Valley in December 2005. The VA contracted with an independent consulting firm to conduct the study. Senator Hutchison wrote a letter to Secretary Nicholson on April 5, 2007, requesting a progress report on the study and inquired about it further at a hearing with the secretary on April 12.



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