| |
 |
| |
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100
|
| |
 |
| |
Raleigh Office:
310 New Bern Avenue
Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Toll Free: 866.420.6083
Fax: 919.856.4053
Salisbury Office:
225 North Main Street
Suite 304
Salisbury, NC 28144
Ph: 704.633.5011
Toll Free: 866.420.6084
Fax: 704.633.2937
Western Office:
401 North Main Street
Suite 200
Hendersonville, NC 28792
Ph: 828.698.3747
Fax: 828.698.1267
Eastern Office:
306 South Evans Street
Greenville, NC 27835
Ph: 252.329.1093
Fax: 252.329.1097
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
| |
Press Releases
|
| |
|
DOLE DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM VA SECRETARY ON HEFNER VA MEDICAL CENTER
|
| |
October 8th, 2008 - Washington, D.C. - Today U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole wrote to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, expressing her concern and asking questions about the recent decision to eliminate emergency and in-patient surgical care at the Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury, N.C. Dole’s staff was briefed yesterday by the VA, in response to Dole’s earlier request for more details about the decision.
“I understand and welcome the need for increasing mental health and long-term care services for veterans of all generations, but doing so by eliminating critical services, such as emergency and in-patient surgical care, at Salisbury troubles me,” wrote Dole. “Can the VA assure veterans that non-VA medical centers will provide the first-rate care they rightly have come to expect? Will receiving care from non-VA medical centers alter, to any extent, out-of-pocket expenses or upfront money required of veterans?”
Dole also questioned the effects of the proposed changes on the staff at Hefner VAMC, and urged the VA to ease the burden of any changes to the greatest extent possible.
Background
The VA recently announced that it will transition the Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury to a Clinical Center of Excellence for Mental Health and Long-Term Care. According to the VA, demographic trends indicate that veterans of all generations in the region increasingly require mental health care and that current mental health care capacity is inadequate. The VA plans to spend $121 million between fiscal years 2009 and 2013 renovating and expanding facilities at Salisbury.
In connection with this transition, the VA announced that it would eliminate emergency services and in-patient surgical care at the Salisbury VAMC, forcing local veterans to seek those services from other regional hospitals.
|
| |
| ### |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
: radio clip | 
: television clip